


Struck Gold

by fxvixen



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Slow Burn, admittedly a lot less plot than there should be for how long this is, i feel the need to explain that Kuroo and Kenma are just friends in this fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-07-21 21:54:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7406404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fxvixen/pseuds/fxvixen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soulmarks basically worked like this: Once you had your golden birthday, your soulmark appeared on your skin. It looked wrinkled and weird until you met your soulmate. Even if you had met them before you got your soulmark, it didn’t clear until you “met” them again. So, since Akaashi’s birthday was December 5th, he got his when he was 5. Since he hadn’t met his soulmate, it remained wrinkly and weird looking. Simple.</p><p>Growing up the question began as, “Do you have your soulmark?” and then morphed into, “Has your soulmark Cleared yet?” because, obviously, by the time everyone got to high school, it was halfway through the month, and 50% of people had already had their golden birthday. It was old news to have your soulmark. The gossip monster was dying for something juicy, someone who’s soulmark had actually cleared.</p><p>Which was why Akaashi was adamantly against telling anyone when his did.</p><p> </p><p>(i'm very sorry to have to do this, but this fic is currently on hiatus. i'm not abandoning it, just need some time to rethink some things about it)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Akaashi

On the morning of Akaashi’s fifth birthday, he woke up at six in the morning just like any other day. He slid out of bed and crept down the hallway past his parents’ room. Akaashi knew better than to wake his parents up, not at this hour. No, he’d let them sleep while he ate breakfast and watched his cartoons. 

When he got to the kitchen, Akaashi decided he wanted cereal for breakfast. He knew his mom had just bought a few new boxes the day before, including his favorite, Fruity Puffs. So, he pulled a chair over- 

A loud _screech_ came from the chair as it was drug across the floor.

Akaashi stopped immediately, freezing and looking toward the hallway with wide eyes.

Several moments of silence passed, and he turned back and struggled to _pick up_ the chair this time. He set it down in front of the cabinet and climbed up to get his Fruity Puffs.

After grabbing the milk, a spoon and a bowl, Akaashi sat at the table in a different chair, deciding to not mess with moving the first chair again. He poured the cereal and began pouring the milk when it slipped from his hands, and spattered in multiple directions. Akaashi quickly grabbed the carton back up, but the damage had been done. 

Akaashi sat back in his chair, frowning, and pouted for a minute. Why? _Why_ did the milk have to spill? He remembered what his mother had told him about pouting, and he pulled his face straight again.

He surveyed the situation. The milk had spread over most of the table now, pooling around his bowl and the milk carton. His cereal was a disaster, more milk than cereal, with most of it probably getting soggy already. Several pieces had fallen over the sides as the milk poured in.

Akaashi sighed and started cleaning. He wiped up the milk with the dish towel, which his mother would admonish him for later. He dumped his entire bowl, cereal and all, down the drain, which would clog the 150-year-old thing, and need to be repaired.

Akaashi wasn’t worried about that when he did it, though. He was worried about the milk that had leaked from the table to drip on his pants when he wasn’t looking. It was sticky and cold and _gross_. He peeled off his pants right there in the kitchen and took them to the laundry room.

Looking at the clock, Akaashi saw that he only had three minutes until his show started, so he ran over and plopped down on the couch. Turning on the TV, he flipped to the right channel, thankful that the volume was turned down.

Three and a half hours later, his parents found him there and greeted him with soft “Happy birthday”s.

He told them of his morning adventure with the cereal, and they told him him to go take a bath. Content with his cartoon watching, Akaashi went without protest.

He stripped and got in to wash himself. He washed his hair and used conditioner, just as he had been taught. It was then that he noticed a big smudge of dirt on his ribs.

Akaashi thought that was peculiar since his last escapade with mud had been over a day ago. He scratched at it to scrape it off.

It stayed. Not even a little came off.

So Akaashi started scrubbing. He scrubbed at it until it was red and stinging, but it didn’t come off. Akaashi was getting frustrated, just wanted the dirt to _come off already_. It was starting to pulse with the sting on his skin and his confusion built. He added more soap, hoping that would do something, but when the water rinsed it off, there was still no change.

Akaashi’s breaths were shaking at this point and he let out a whine when the extra soap didn’t help. His breaths came quicker and the frustration pulled tears from his eyes. Frantic, and not sure what else to do, he called for his mother, trying not to scream.

She came in smoothly, calm and soothing.

She stared at the blur, then laughed and said, “Oh, darling, it’s just your soulmark! No need to be upset.”

Akaashi was upset at her quick dismissal of his fears, and she could tell he didn’t believe her.

Showing him her soulmark on her elbow, his father’s name, he remembered her talking about it. Saying it was at her elbow because her energy was all about connections, or something like that. That’s why she’s so good at being a diplomat.

Akaashi felt his heart slow down, remembering.

His mother waited patiently while Akaashi scrutinized the mark on his own body for a moment. It’s near the bottom of his ribs, but not on the last one. It’s a mix of black and gold colors, but no matter which way Akaashi turned his head, it didn’t look like any letters he recognized.

“But...mine isn’t a name,” he said.

“That’s true, but it will probably smooth out once you meet them.” She walked off then, seeing that he’d calmed down.

Looking back down at the mark, Akaashi thought that his mark looked...wrinkled. That’s a good word. And now he knows that it will stay that way until he meets his soulmate.

His soulmate.

Akaashi doesn’t really know what to think about that.

 

* * *

 

In middle school, the curriculum just kind of grouped the soulmate explaining in with sex ed. Neither were explained very well, as if the school expected the parents to give the real meat of the talk to their own children.

Luckily, Akaashi’s parents did, in fact, explain everything about soulmates to him.

And sex education. _Everything._ _During_ middle school.

If you can imagine _that_ mortifying experience.

Anyway.

They explained that soulmarks basically work like this: Once you had your golden birthday, your soulmark appeared on your skin. It looked wrinkled and weird until you met your soulmate. Even if you had met them before you got your soulmark, it didn’t clear until you “met” them again. So, since Akaashi’s birthday was December 5th, he got his when he was 5. Since he hadn’t met his soulmate, it remained wrinkly and weird looking. Simple.

Growing up the question began as, “Do you have your soulmark?” and then morphed into, “Has your soulmark Cleared yet?” because, obviously, by the time everyone got to high school, it was halfway through the month, and 50% of people had already had their golden birthday. It was old news to have your soulmark. The gossip monster was _dying_ for something juicy, someone who’s soulmark had actually cleared.

Which was why Akaashi was adamantly against telling anyone when his did.

 

* * *

 

It was on the very first day of high school, and Akaashi could not believe his luck. 

He also, you know, didn’t know whether it was good luck or bad luck.

Akaashi had only talked to the boy once during the practice. Ok, there was really only two phrase said between them, and Akaashi didn’t say either of them. He really only remembers which person it was because of the weird way that he was introduced. 

Akaashi and the other first years were awkwardly standing around while their captain and vice captain introduced themselves, Kokan Sota and Matano Nobu, and gave a rundown of the club. While they talked, the practice was getting set up behind them, and every once in awhile they’d hear a loud whoop or yell. Akaashi adamantly avoided looking around like the other first years to show that he could actually _pay attention_ to their soon-to-be senpai.

The next yell was much closer, and this time Akaashi had to adamantly avoid flinching at the noise right behind him. 

“Nobuuuu!! Come set to me!”

The vice captain–Matano-senpai Akaashi reminded himself–rolled his eyes and huffed, while the captain–Kokan-senpai–just smirked and said, “He’ll be right there.”

The person behind Akaashi made some sort of loud happy noise.

Now, Akaashi had a lot of mental strength, but he _had_ to know what kind of...creature could have made that particular noise.

Akaashi turned around to see a guy not much taller than himself standing dramatically with his hand on his hips. With black and white hair pulled up in two spikes on either side of his head, and focused gold eyes, he could have been intimidating. Had he not had a huge grin on his face.

Akaashi concluded that yes, he could see that noise coming out of this person.

The person started to leave, and realized they now had all the first-years’ attention. He waved, saying, “Hey, hey, heyyyy!! I’m Bokuto Koutarou.”

Then he skittered off, presumably to get ready to hit.

Kokan nudged Matano with a bit of a side eye. “Your beloved spiker is waiting.”

As he walked off, Matano muttered, “I should have never told him he could call me by my first name.”

After that, Kokan ran them through some drills to get a feel for their skill levels. Akaashi may or may not have purposely botched a couple hits, so he wouldn’t be considered for a wing spiker.

What? It’s not like they needed more. Akaashi had done his research. He didn’t know a lot about Fukurodani, but he knew they needed setters, and that’s what Akaashi aimed to be.

It wasn’t until later, in the club room, that Akaashi noticed the mark had cleared. His eyes froze on it for a moment before he shakily just threw his practice shirt back on and tried not to sprint out the door.

When he got home, Akaashi locked himself in the bathroom, and then allowed himself the chance to look at his mark in the mirror.

It was no longer wrinkly and weird. It was a gold script outlined with a thin black line, and it read very elegantly, _Bokuto Koutarou_.

For the longest time, Akaashi just stared at it, thoughts running rampant.

He knew this would affect things in his life. He couldn’t just pretend it wouldn’t.

There would be talk about them from his classmates, from their teammates, who he didn’t even really know yet. They would be expected to be lovey-dovey, or show all kinds of affection.

Akaashi thought of the image of Bokuto seared into his brain. Akaashi admitted to himself right away that Bokuto was attractive. No one could deny it. Bokuto had looked strong, and full of energy. He looked happy and like he liked to have fun.

Bokuto looked like he could exhaust Akaashi just by standing next to him.

Akaashi tried not to judge, he didn’t even know the guy yet.

Bokuto was a wing spiker, which was _surprisingly_ poetic.

Bokuto was an upperclassman. Would Bokuto expect Akaashi to do whatever he told him to do? Akaashi didn’t like that thought. What about when he graduated? Would he expect Akaashi to just follow him to whatever college he went to, willy nilly? Akaashi didn’t really want to do that either.

Wait. Had Bokuto’s mark Cleared, too? Akaashi didn’t know what his birthday was. Tearing his gaze from his chest, he grabbed his bag from where he dropped it in the corner when he stiffly walked into the bathroom. Then he walked quickly, albeit still stiffly, into his room. In the back of his mind, he was glad his parents weren’t home yet to see all his stiff walking around. He may have been raised to be stingy with his visible emotions, but life-altering things weren’t that easy to hide.

Akaashi turned on his computer and pulled up facebook, searching for a Bokuto Koutarou. He clicked on the unmistakeable picture and breathed a small sigh of relief that Bokuto’s golden birthday wasn’t until he was 20.

At least Akaashi had some time to figure this out. He goes over everything he knows about his soulmate again. 

Akaashi knew he was a second-year. He knew he was a wing spiker. He knew his name was Bokuto Koutarou. Akaashi also knew this Bokuto was supposed to be his soulmate. But Akaashi didn’t know what to think about soulmates when he first learned about them, and, honestly, he doesn’t know what to think about them now.

So Akaashi decides to just, get to know Bokuto first, observe, see how things go. 

Or, ignore it for now, if you will.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i posted this first chapter mostly so I would have no excuse to abandon it, like i've been tempted to do so bear with me guys (but i do have ideas (っ˘ڡ˘ς) )
> 
> find me on tumblr at fxvixen, i love talking to people, if you talk to me i will literally screech 
> 
> but for god's sake don't actually go to my tumblr page i've only been there for like 4 months and i have nO fUcKiNg cLuE what i'm doing help me


	2. Akaashi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A couple other first years pluck up the courage to ask one of the people themselves how it feels to have found their soulmate.
> 
> Akaashi pretends he’s not listening when he hears, “It’s kind of like being reunited with someone you used to be friends with.”
> 
> This confuses Akaashi, and he’s grateful when one of the first years ask, “What do you mean? Wasn’t this the first time you’ve met?”
> 
> The upperclassman looks uncomfortable when Akaashi sneaks a glance. “Well, yes, but...that’s just what it feels like. It feels like you’ve known them for a long time. Like...they’re just super familiar.”
> 
> One of his year mates scorns this. “That doesn't make any sense.”

As far as Akaashi knows, no one else in his year has yet to find their soulmate. A couple of the upperclassmen have found theirs, and all the first-years babble about it for the first few days. Akaashi watches as the upperclassmen roll their eyes at the rehashing of old news.

A couple other first years pluck up the courage to ask one of the people themselves how it feels to have found their soulmate.

Akaashi pretends he’s not listening when he hears, “It’s kind of like being reunited with someone you used to be friends with.”

This confuses Akaashi, and he’s grateful when one of the first years ask, “What do you mean? Wasn’t this the first time you’ve met?”

The upperclassman looks uncomfortable when Akaashi sneaks a glance. “Well, yes, but...that’s just what it feels like. It feels like you’ve known them for a long time. Like...they’re just super familiar.”

One of his year mates scorns this. “That doesn't make any sense.”

“...sorry?” They walk away.

Akaashi thinks about this later during practice. Kokan and the coach have made him and another first-year tentative backup setters. The other guy isn’t very happy about it, but Akaashi allows himself to sigh in relief.

After a full eight days, Bokuto and he have yet to have an actual conversation, Akaashi realizes, so he tries to start with that. Getting Bokuto to talk shouldn’t be that hard, what with his constant yelling. After Bokuto spikes one of his tosses, Akaashi stops him with a, “Bokuto-san.”

Bokuto is cut off in the middle of his whoop. His head swivels toward Akaashi, and his gold eyes are _there,_ piercing and pinning. Akaashi feels his own eyes stick and his thoughts slow to a halt. He vaguely hears the, “Yes?” but it takes him several seconds to get out his response.

“Ah, good job, Bokuto-san. That was a good one.”

The answering grin is _immediate_ and _bright._ Akaashi doesn’t know if he’ll survive it, honestly, but thankfully, Bokuto has to move on to let the next player hit.

“It was, wasn’t it!” He whoops some more as he runs off.

Akaashi takes the time to think that if he had met Bokuto like that, now _that_ would have felt like meeting his soulmate. Even with the lack of modesty, the sheer confidence that comes from Bokuto fills Akaashi with energy. He doesn’t risk talking to Bokuto again, though, afraid he might actually go down from the shock to his system.

After practice, another second-year comes up grinning. “I saw you had your first experience with Bokuto’s excitement.”

Akaashi just frowns in confusion.

“You know, when you told him ‘good job’? It happens to every new setter. They get blinded by his enthusiasm.”

“Oh.” So, it hadn’t been a soulmate thing?

“Yeah, it wears off, though. You’ll get used to it, and he’ll get used to your complements. Then is won’t be a big deal.”

Akaashi swears right then, in that moment, that he’ll be so stingy with his compliments that Bokuto will never get used to them. Akaashi wants to be blinded by that smile for a while longer, even if it may be bad for his health.

Based on that grin alone, Akaashi concludes that the upperclassman was wrong. If Bokuto was someone Akaashi already knew, he’s sure he would have remembered a smile like that.

Akaashi reflects on the interaction itself. About 10 words in total, but he had done it. He had started to get to know Bokuto.

 

* * *

 

Over the next couple days, Akaashi observes Bokuto with the other setters. That’s when he realizes that there are only three setters. Matano, the other first-year, and himself. So, next year, he could be the official setter.

He can do that, he supposes.

But something that Akaashi notices when Bokuto hits off the other setters is that he has a habit. Bokuto always hits a ball with everything he’s got, but whenever he comes down from hitting a ball, he pauses for a mere second. Just long enough for it to be noticeable. Then he whoops his whoop and runs off to retrieve the ball. It’s the same every time with both of the other setters.

After a few tries, the other first year tentatively starts telling people when they have good hits. When he gets to Bokuto, Akaashi finds out the reason for the pause.

“G-good job, Bokuto-san!”

_Instantly_ , as though he was waiting for it, and that’s when Akaashi realizes he _was_ , Bokuto turns with a huge grin and loudly says, “Ahh, I know!!” Then he scrambles off after the ball.

Through the other first-year, Akaashi sees what he must have looked like when he first experienced Bokuto’s enthusiasm. He feels his own ears heat at the tips, but he ignores it, hoping that no one else will notice.

Akaashi also stays true to his decision, and when Bokuto is hitting his tosses, he ignores the pause. Akaashi ignores it until it’s the end of practice, and then he says again, “Good job, Bokuto-san.”

Akaashi is a bit more prepared for the light that seems to be emanating from every pore on Bokuto’s face. He basks in it for the precious seconds that he has.

“I know!! Aren’t I great, Akaashi-kun?”

Akaashi is blind sided once more by the fact that Bokuto remembers his name now. They were never properly introduced, so it’s as if Bokuto just plucked his name from thin air. It’s as if he just looked Akaashi and knew his name in his soul.

Ok, Akaashi really needs to calm down. Though, he’s fairly certain that being this stingy with his complements is going to be worth it.

 

* * *

 

One day, almost on the spot, Akaashi makes the courageous decision to branch out from his regular “Good job, Bokuto-san.”

He’s helping fold the net when he can’t help but loudly overhear,

“Nobuuuu, please stay with me and set! I’ve almost got it!”

“No, Bokuto, you say that now, and then we’ll be here for another three or four hours while you, ‘almost get it.’”

“But Nobu, this time, I’m _sure_ –”

“No. I’m done for today.” Matano shakes his head firmly at his kohai.

At this point, Bokuto doesn’t really know who Akaashi is, beyond his name, and Akaashi thinks he probably won’t get a better opportunity to change that.

He calls over, “I can stay.”

Bokuto and Matano both look over at him.

Akaashi continues, “If you want, I mean. I don’t have a ton of homework, so I could stay late today.”

Akaashi honest-to-God watches Bokuto’s entire face slowly go from disappointed to almost ecstatic.

Matano grins, surprisingly, looking at Akaashi while addressing Bokuto. “Yeah, Bokuto, why don’t you stay with _Akaashi-kun_.”

Abruptly, Bokuto turns back to Matano with a bit of a squawking noise and shoves him away. Matano laughs as he walks out. “Don’t forget to lock up after your practice with Akaashi-kun~~.”

Akaashi just frowns at his upperclassmen and turns to head toward the net.

“Hey, hey! Akaashi-kun!”

Akaashi turns back expectantly to find Bokuto bouncing along at his side.

“Thanks for staying, I’m getting really close to perfecting my straight. I think it could even happen tonight!”

Akaashi knows for a fact that Bokuto has said these exact words to Matano the past few days, but decides not to question him.

“It’s not a problem,” Akaashi says, “I have the time. Although, I’ll have to leave in two hours. I do have some homework.”

The rest of the team finishes up and heads off towards the club room as Akaashi and Bokuto grab a cart of balls and head to their spots. Akaashi tries very hard not to actively think about the two of them having an actual conversation right now.

“Augh, homework’s such a drag. I’d rather stay here,” Bokuto whines.

“But if you don’t study, you won’t get to stay here. You have to maintain good grades to stay on the team,” Akaashi replies.

“I know...I do it! I just wish I didn’t have to, you know?”

Akaashi doesn’t think that there’s anything particularly horrible about doing homework, it’s just not pleasant. However, he knows that most people don’t share this opinion, so he keeps it to himself as he gets ready to toss.

“Hey, hey, Akaashi, what’s your favorite subject?”

Akaashi is taken aback by the way that Bokuto looks earnestly interested in his answer.

“Um, I’m not sure. Probably math? I like science, too, and English.”

Bokuto looks shocked. “Who _are_ you?” he whispers. Well, it’s a dramatically loud whisper.

“Just give me the ball, Bokuto-san.” Akaashi knows liking those subjects is out of the norm, no need to have extra attention brought to it.

Bokuto grunts a bit in indignation but he lofts the ball to Akaashi. Akaashi tosses it up, and Bokuto slams it back down. Bokuto does his little pause, which is now glaringly obvious to Akaashi, and then goes back to grab another ball, whooping all the way.

Akaashi takes the time to study Bokuto’s hitting. Bokuto jumps pretty high in the air when he goes for the spike, his arm flexes backward, and then everything tenses as he brings his arm through to hit. The power in each hit can be heard echoing through the gym and seen by how high the ball bounces after each spike.

Akaashi sends a toss that he’s especially proud of, and Bokuto slams it down almost as close as the 10ft line on the other side of the court. Akaashi can’t help the small smile as his eyes follow the ball and words slip out, “Nice kill.”

Bokuto’s pause is worth something now, and he turns to Akaashi, excited grin exploding into place, “I know!! It felt so good to hit! Give yourself some credit, too, Akaashi-kun. That was an amazing toss.”

Akaashi makes eye contact. “It was.”

Bokuto grin widens. “Whoa, I’ve never seen you smile before! It’s really nice.”

Nothing could’ve kept Akaashi’s cheeks from heating. He drops his smile and his gaze immediately. Of course, he knew he wasn’t unattractive, and had heard compliments before, but this time felt a little different. His heart was beating faster and there were little tingles spurting through his chest.

“Sorry! Sorry. I didn’t meant to embarrass you, Akaashi-kun.”

“It’s fine.” Akaashi ignored everything his body was doing and just pushed through. “Just throw another ball Bokuto-san.”

After a couple more hits, Akaashi sees that Bokuto has switched to concentrating on his straights. They are still at a pretty obvious angle, and could probably be picked up by a blocker.

“AAaagh! When I hit it, I feel like it’s going straight, and then I see it hit the ground and it’s nowhere near where I thought it would be!”

“You could imagine there’s a blocker there?” Akaashi tries.

“I’m am! I’m imagining my middle blocker friend’s ugly smirk and I’m trying to hit inside it.”

Akaashi shoots back, “Are you sure you’re not trying to hit his ‘ugly smirk’?”

Bokuto looks at him equally surprised and amused, “I mean, it’s definitely possible. If you’d seen his face, you’d know. Sometimes I just want to kick it.”

Akaashi lets the corner of his mouth twitch. He watches Bokuto notice, but thankfully the guy has some tact, and ignores it. “If it looks like it’s going straight and it’s not, then why don’t you aim even farther? Try to aim off court, and maybe you’ll hit the line.”

Bokuto’s eyes light up. “Oooooo _oooo_ , Akaashi-kun! You’re so smart!” He scrambles back to his place while Akaashi ignores the second complement for that night.

Bokuto hits again and this time, it’s actually pretty straight. It’s still nowhere near the line, but it’s getting closer.

“Hey, _hey_ , HEY!! Akaashi-kun, did you see that?! It was like a whole foot closer!!”

Akaashi feels Bokuto’s joy rush over him as well, and takes pride in his success. “Good job, Bokuto-san.”

 

* * *

 

It becomes a thing.

Bokuto asks Akaashi to stay after practice more often than not. It must be obvious enough to Bokuto that Matano doesn’t want to stay, because he usually asks Akaashi first.

Akaashi is almost always fine with staying. He needs the extra setting practice if he stands any chance of being decent for the team next year. He also slowly gets to know Bokuto through their little conversations between hits. The times he can’t stay, however, Bokuto whines for what seems like forever about “not getting the practice that I _need,_ Akaashi _”_.

Bokuto had dropped the honorific the day after their first one-on-one practice. Immediately. “We’ve stayed after practice together, Akaashi. That means we’re friends now!” He tried to tell Akaashi that he could feel free to drop the “-san” but Akaashi wasn’t quite ready to let it go yet.

With the extra time together, Akaashi is sure that he knows Bokuto fairly well. Well enough to come up with some conclusions about what he thinks about this whole “soulmate” business.

Akaashi tentatively thinks that he could see Bokuto as part of his life. Bokuto doesn’t seem like he’d try to boss Akaashi around or control what he did. In fact, he seemed perfectly alright with going along with whatever Akaashi wanted.

Yes, the Bokuto he knew probably wouldn’t be that bad to have as a soulmate.

 

* * *

 

Akaashi didn’t know Bokuto as well as he thought. It was painfully obvious the first time Akaashi witnessed Bokuto in anything other than not in the highest of spirits.

The first time Akaashi sees Bokuto’s dejected mode, he isn’t the one who’s setting. And the one who is...doesn’t go about helping in the right way. He doesn’t even really help. Like, at all.

The one setting to him at the time is the other first-year. And while the other first-year setter quite obviously doesn’t want to set, he’s actually pretty good at it. His tosses are direct and where they need to be.

But he has piss-poor people skills.

After he got over his beginning nerves, he began asking some of his teammates what he could improve on, and he would then return the favor and tell them what they could do to help him out. He even gave out “tips” for “how to match up to his tosses”. As in, he was _bossy_.

His tosses have since become almost law. If you aren’t matched up, it isn’t _his_ fault; the spiker is either too slow or too fast. Several people started to avoid hitting his tosses, and Akaashi is grateful that he’s not a spiker. Despite this, the first-year setter’s bossiness is really only a small annoyance until the day they play some six-on-six within the club.

The coach is trying to get a feel for how different people work together, so he’s planning on switching people in and out constantly. The only person not going in is Akaashi himself, but the coach had explained to him that he would be playing in the scrimmage the team would play the next day. He wants to see how the each of the first-years would play after they were tired and practically begging for a break.

So, the match begins, without a lot of trouble, really. They’ve been playing for a good hour, before Akaashi notices that Bokuto is getting kind of stiff. Kind of twitchy.

Don’t ask how he always notices Bokuto. How’s he supposed to get a feel for this soulmate thing if he’s not constantly observing?

So Akaashi notices that Bokuto is getting stiff, and remembers that Bokuto’s last few hits hadn’t exactly been the best, as well as one of them getting hit out-of-bounds. Bokuto’s not getting subdued, though, like some people would. In fact, he appears to be getting even louder and on his next approach he swings furiously, almost demanding with everything he has that the ball go over.

Unfortunately, the toss is too close to the net. The ball hits the edge of it and bounces back to their side. Bokuto howls in frustration, and sulks away, demanding the next toss be to him, too.

Akaashi is confused by this strange version of Bokuto that seems to just be getting angrier. He’s only ever seen Bokuto excited and raring to go, and the frustration coming from Bokuto is just as catching as his usual enthusiasm.

Akaashi checks Matano’s side to see the third year setter looking at Bokuto, too. Matano doesn’t look surprised in the least. He actually looks kind of satisfied; like it was his number one goal to frustrate Bokuto.

A couple people try to cheer Bokuto up, saying, “Don’t mind,” and “You’ll get the next one.” The first year setter also looks frustrated. Akaashi can understand that at least. He’s frustrated that one of his spikers isn’t getting his hits in, but instead of taking responsibility for the toss that was too close to the net, he sets in on Bokuto.

“Bokuto,” he says.

Akaashi narrows his eyes that this guy has moved to dropping the honorifics without permission, not that Bokuto is someone who would care.

“You need to go faster. If you had been up faster, then it would have gone over just fine.”

The gym goes quiet, as if they could sense that something was about to happen.

Bokuto’s angry cloud fizzles out abruptly and now he just looks confused, “The toss was kinda close to the net, though...I think even if I had been faster, the block would’ve gotten it instead.”

The setter’s frustration is now pointed directly at Bokuto. “No, Bokuto. I’m the setter and I could see that you would’ve gotten through. Next time, just be _faster_.” He then strides back into position.

Everyone on his side of the net looks ready to break both the setter’s legs and force him to walk around on them. Akaashi feels the same, but he’d break the guy’s legs _and_ his arms and force him to _crawl_ around like the stupid mutt he is. What kind of guy would say that to another teammate? Let alone an upperclassman.

Bokuto just stares hard down at the ground for a moment. He appears to really be considering what his setter had said to him. There’s silence and it’s like some unspoken agreement to wait until Bokuto is through his thoughts.

Akaashi glances at Matano again, but this time he looks kind of guilty.

Akaashi looks back to Bokuto, and sees that he’s looking in Akaashi’s direction. Bokuto looks upset and confused now, like he can’t decide what he thinks of the situation. Akaashi’s skin prickles. Why is Bokuto looking at him? Does he think Akaashi is that close of a friend already, that he would look to him?

Wait, no. Bokuto isn’t looking at Akaashi, he’s looking at the coach who is on the bench right next to Akaashi. Akaashi feels slightly disappointed by this, but it’s brushed aside by his concern. Bokuto starts to walk towards them, and Akaashi hears the coach sigh beside him, hoping it wouldn’t come to this.

When Bokuto reaches them he whines, “I can’t play when I bring the team down.” Akaashi is surprised. Can Bokuto really just pull himself out of the match like that?

The coach nods in response and waves a different wing spiker in. Apparently he can. Bokuto sits down on Akaashi’s other side as the match gets going again.

Akaashi tries to look back and forth between Bokuto and the coach without looking like he’s watching an extreme ping pong match.

Akaashi decides to focus on Bokuto. Bokuto’s entire body is sagging. His feet are under the bench, his arms are resting on his legs, his chin is tipped down and he continues to stare at the ground. Even the spikes in his hair have drooped a bit. The only movement coming from Bokuto at the moment is his hands twisting together restlessly in his lap.

Right now, Bokuto could be the image next to “dejected” in the dictionary.

Akaashi isn’t quite sure what to do, but it seems like Bokuto is going to be out for a while so he may as well try to bring back Bokuto’s usual enthusiasm. The only question is where to start.

“Bokuto-san?” Akaashi speaks quietly, trying not to disturb their coaches concentration on the game, and also keep the conversation private.

He doesn’t look up. “Yeah?”

Akaashi pauses. Well, crap, he has no idea where to go with this.

“...Nevermind.”

Bokuto looks up then, straight at Akaashi with his miserable eyes and whines, “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“No, you didn’t. I just– I’m not sure how to make you feel better.” Akaashi knows he sounds awkward.

“That’s ok. No one does.” Bokuto makes a noise that sounds suspiciously like a sniff. “It’s nice of you to try, though.”

The matter of fact way that Bokuto dismisses this makes Akaashi even more angry, and he stiffens up, looking ahead at the match as he says, “It’s just odd to see you sitting still and not up and running around.”

“I feel like I could run around the school three hundred times and never hit another toss as well as I used to.”

Ok, this is getting a bit too dramatic. Bokuto was hitting fine not ten minutes ago.

Is this something that happens frequently? Everyone seems to be ignoring it like it’s normal, and no one is moving to try to cheer Bokuto up. They couldn’t figure it out, so they just stopped trying? That kind of pisses Akaashi off.

He continues to watch the game, and sees the team Bokuto was previously on get more and more angry with their setter. It really doesn’t help that as the setter gets tired, he gets even more rude and bossy. Bokuto doesn't really pay attention for a while, but when they're getting closer to the end of the match he looks up a few times to watch some hits. His team is still losing, what with their setter and spikers not communicating very well. Bokuto begins twitching again, and can't seem to sit still the closer they get to end of the match. Akaashi is about to ask him if everything is alright, when his attention is brought back to the court.

The conflict out there has come to a head, and a 3rd year spiker has evidently reached the end of his rope.

“I swear to god, asshole, if you tell me what to do one more time, I'll make you regret it.”

The setter looks put out, and then he looks around and realizes that everyone on his team is glaring at him. No one jumps in to defend him.

“S-Sorry…”

He doesn’t speak anymore after that, but the damage has been done. The game ends shortly with Matano’s team winning by a wide margin.

The gym is eerily quiet as the team cleans up after practice.

Akaashi sees Bokuto start to walk out as he’s picking up the last few balls. He jogs over, not wanting Bokuto out of his sight without at least trying once more to cheer him up.

“Bokuto-san?” Akaashi asks.

Bokuto turns around and his eyes lock on the ball in Akaashi’s hands. “Oh, Akaashi.” He looks off to the side. “I don’t really feel like hitting anymore today...sorry...”

Glancing down at the ball in his hands, too, Akaashi forges on, trying to think of some kind of excuse for them to stay together. “Ah, no, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out? Or maybe just grab some ice cream or something quick?” Great. Akaashi looks back up and prays that his face just looks kind or blank and not pitying or concerned.

Bokuto looks surprised, but interested. “Uh. Yeah? Yeah, I guess I could go for some ice cream.”

“Will you wait for me, then?”

“Yeah, sure.”

When they’re both changed and ready to go, they head to the small ice cream shop that was placed strategically near the high school. It had recently opened the weekend before, since the weather was warming up now.

Akaashi orders a small mint chocolate chip, then waves Bokuto forward to order.

“Um, can I please get a large chocolate chip cookie dough?” Akaashi refuses to raise his eyebrows at the amount of ice cream that would be. “Oh! Can i get a glass of water, too?”

He turns to Akaashi, “I always get thirsty when I eat cookie dough...”

Akaashi hums in response and pays. He’s still concerned with how Bokuto is behaving right now, but he seems to have brightened up a little at the sight of ice cream.

They get their orders and sit down to eat. Bokuto seems to be focused only on devouring his ice cream and ignoring what happened at practice.

Akaashi has other plans.

As he takes small bites of his ice cream, Akaashi absentmindedly stares at Bokuto. He knows there _has_ to be a way to get Bokuto out of this hole he’s in, even if he needs to drag Bokuto out of it by his toes.

Akaashi decides to start with logic. “Bokuto-san, you know that toss was too close to the net for you to have hit it properly.”

Bokuto pauses in his eating and licks his lips. “Yeah, but– I think he was right...I– I probably could’ve gotten it if I had gone in faster.”

Akaashi forces himself to be calm and patient at the easy way that Bokuto let himself be swayed by the other setter’s opinion. “Bokuto-san, you said yourself that it probably would’ve gotten stopped by the block in that case.”

“I– I’m not sure. I don’t remember where they were, it was just instinct. And...he sounded so sure that there was an opening, so, there had to’ve been, right?” Bokuto takes another big bite of his ice cream.

Cursing Bokuto’s child-like stubbornness, Akaashi tries being stern. “Listen to me, Bokuto-san, who do you think has a better view of the blockers? You, coming straight on to them? Or the setter, who is facing slightly away, and has a view from the side?”

Instead of helping, Bokuto visibly shrinks into himself. “I do, Akaashi-kun.”

Akaashi sighs, resigned to the fact that he’s not going to figure this out today. If it happens as often as people have been insinuating, then he should have more chances. “I’m sorry, Bokuto-san. I’m just frustrated.” Akaashi goes back to his own ice cream.

Bokuto takes a few thoughtful licks of his ice cream as he stares at Akaashi. “Thank you, Akaashi.”

Akaashi looks up.

“And not just for the ice cream. Thank you for trying to make me feel better. It– it means a lot. Not a lot of people try after they can’t the first time, and the only person who’s ever really succeeded was Kuroo.”

Akaashi frowns, “Kuroo?”

It’s barely there, but Bokuto’s eyes light up just a _smidgen_. “Kuroo’s my best bro. The, uh, heh, the middle blocker with the ugly smirk.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. He sent me an owl pick-up line once when I was down. He didn’t even _know_ I was down, he just sent it. I swear, our minds are connected sometimes. But, uh, it made me smile.” A fond smile has appeared on Bokuto’s lips. It fills Akaashi with a sense of hope that he can get Bokuto out of this mood, even if it’s only part of the way.

“You like owls, then?”

Bokuto’s eye snap to him. “Dude. I don’t like owls. I _love_ owls.”

Akaashi smiles softly. “I have a stuffed owl that I’ve had since I was seven. I saw a documentary on them and how their feathers help them fly silently. I thought it was very cool, and begged my mother to buy the toy the next day.”

“Ok, that settles it. You’re officially a bro.” Bokuto’s voice is rising in volume.

“A bro?” Akaashi’s smile widens.

“A friend, one of the gang. You’ve _got_ to meet Kuroo. We’ve all got to hang out sometime. You guys would fit right in together since he likes math and science, too. Gross.”

Akaashi laughs a little, and takes a larger bite of his ice cream. His looks up to see Bokuto staring blankly at him.

“What? Did I get some on my nose? I have a habit of that.” Akaashi wipes his face.

“No, no. You look good. I– I mean– you’re good.” Bokuto looks strangled, “I mean, you don’t have ice cream on your face.”

Akaashi flushes but Bokuto looks kinda constipated so he can’t help but laugh again. “Thank you for checking.”

When Bokuto sees Akaashi laugh, he relaxes. “Haha, sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Akaashi just smiles, glad he was able to pull Bokuto back to normal. They both quietly dive into their ice cream for a few minutes.

No, that’s not right. If Bokuto gets this miserable that often, it has to be normal, too. It’s just not “normal” for Akaashi because he’s never seen it before. Looking across at Bokuto, he thinks it’s not altogether that bad, it just means that Bokuto can be hard on himself. Akaashi realizes that there’s probably still a lot about Bokuto that he doesn’t know yet, but he still wants to give it a try.

_Shit._ Akaashi’s really starting to like this guy.

No, the upperclassman was definitely wrong. Bokuto isn’t really familiar at all. But Akaashi thinks he’ll have a bit of fun figuring him out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a confession...I didn't want to use any other canon Fukurodani players because I haven't read/seen enough about them, and I don't feel that I could accurately represent them. So, that's why I created my own characters for Bo and Akaashi to interact with. Sorry if you were hoping to see some of those guys!
> 
> Kuroo will make his grand entrance in the next chapter! (it may not actually be grand, just go with it)
> 
> kjsdfkjssdfsdfklj your comments have been so nice, don't kill me before i get started, jesus.  
> you can find me on tumblr as fxvixen, come on over, i'll have some cookies or something waiting


	3. Akaashi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I don’t see how you could’ve have come to that conclusion when we’ve barely spoken, let alone spent any time together. I might not be anything like you expect.” Akaashi tries not to sound defensive.
> 
> One side of Kuroo’s lips slowly quirks up into a smirk, “Oh, I think you’re pretty damn close to ‘like I expect’.” Then Kuroo turns and walks away, hands in his pockets. It looks like he might actually start whistling.
> 
> Akaashi watches him walk away with narrowed eyes.

With everything that’s been going on Akaashi can hardly believe that it’s only been a few weeks since he started high school. Already, Kokan and Matano are throwing around intimidating words like, “Inter-High’s coming up.”

The coach now has every practice end with a six-on-six match. The positions are constantly being moved around, and just when they think the coach is finally satisfied, he switches someone out again. Akaashi can’t even see any reason for it. The coach seems to be doing it purely to see how they’ll react.

Bokuto has dropped into a mood three more times since the first one, and each time he pulls himself out of the match and twitches away on the sidelines as the set ends. Twice he had been on Matano’s team and once on Akaashi’s.

(The third setter hadn’t been back to practice since Bokuto’s first dejected mode, and, really, no one was that upset.)

The time Bokuto had been on Akaashi’s team, Akaashi tried to goad him into staying on the court with, “Bokuto-san, how are you supposed to be the Ace if you give up?”

“Akaashi, look at my horrible hits! I’m not the Ace…” Bokuto had walked off anyway.

Another failed attempt, but Akaash wasn’t that bothered, maybe a bit frustrated, but not upset. He and Bokuto had begun to walk to the ice cream shop after their practices, and Akaashi can use that time to cheer Bokuto up. When they’re there, Akaashi always gets the same thing, and the worker has started to have it ready for him. Bokuto, on the other hand, seems to get a different kind as the mood strikes him. The worker just smiles indulgently and scoops it for him.

They talk about everything from their favorite color to “What if caterpillars played violins, Akaashi? And then when they change into butterflies, then they play the cello?? Think about it!!” Admittedly, a lot of conversations are started by Bokuto, but Akaashi isn’t opposed to joining in.

“Neither of those are big enough to play those instruments, Bokuto-san, and even if they had instruments their size, it wouldn’t be plausible. Those are two different kinds of instruments, which have completely different styles to them. Just because they look alike, doesn’t mean they play the same.”

Bokuto thinks very deeply about every single one of Akaashi’s seemingly crushing responses, even if it takes him several minutes. “AHA! They’re different instruments because caterpillars and butterflies aren’t the same! Caterpillars and Butterflies have different length of arms and stuff!” Bokuto is always extremely happy when he can come back at Akaashi with his own argument, so Akaashi has no problem waiting for it.

(They'd talked about birthday's once. Soulmates were something that Bokuto was very excited about and he couldn't wait to get his Mark. He pestered Akaashi with questions about his Mark and made up wild suggestions about what his own soulmate would be like. Akaashi hadn't added much to that conversation.)

Akaashi only starts conversations if he has advice for Bokuto about what he’d observed during practice. Other than that, he's not really sure what to talk about, and unless Bokuto is down on himself, he's fine with the silence anyway. 

The times that Akaashi had seen Matano work with Bokuto when he was down were...not as helpful as Akaashi had hoped. He thought that Matano would have some experience with Bokuto’s dejected mode and could help Akaashi figure out how to bring him out of it, but Matano didn’t even do anything. As in, he literally did nothing.

Matano just watched as Bokuto got more and more frustrated. He just watched as Bokuto boiled over into fully miserable. He just watched as Bokuto let himself off the court. He just watched as someone else took his spot. He continued playing.

It was extremely aggravating. Bokuto was without-a-doubt the strongest spiker on the team, even as a second year, and no one tried to make him stronger. No one went to the effort to help him when he had trouble.

Akaashi, though, is giving it his best shot.

 

* * *

 

“We have some news for you guys,” the coach tells them after practice. “I’m sure the upperclassmen have been expecting this. It’s later in the season than we usually have our first camp, but we’ve been invited over to Nekoma this weekend. We'll be there Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, seeing as this Friday you lot don't have school. I know it’s short notice, but I want to get us in some practice matches as soon as possible.”

There’s some general excited murmuring as well as an, “Aaa _aaaw yeah!!”_

The coach ignores Bokuto as well as the murmuring. “I want this weekend to be about narrowing down which players will be the starting lineup this season. That said, I expect everyone to bring everything they’ve got to these upcoming practice matches.” With his piece said, the coach walks out.

The gym now feels to have shrunk in size, the air getting thicker around them. Some are giving anxious glances around.

The coach has laid out the stakes. It’s now every man for himself to become a starting player at Fukurodani. Akaashi wonders which of his teammates will rise to the challenge under the extra pressure, and who will let their own fears get the best of them.

Akaashi feels what can only be his own blood heating, responding to the call to be the best.

Bokuto bounces over to him like the coach had never said anything. “Akaashi! Can you believe it? We’re gonna go to Nekoma! I can’t believe we’re going there first, we  _always_ go to Shinzen first. It’s cuz coach thinks our defense is bad so he wants us to go there to…”

Akaashi knows Bokuto is still talking, but his mind is currently flowing around trying to find Matano’s weaknesses. As an upperclassman, he doesn’t have a lot. He’s reliable. He gives his spikers the tosses they need. He listens to them. All, except Bokuto.

“....team has their thing. Shinzen comes at us, bro, like, all at once. Ubugawa serves actual bowling balls, I swear to god, Akaashi. Nekoma uses voodoo to keep the ball off….”

Matano gives up when something doesn’t work the first few times. He settles.

Akaashi’s not sure what to do with that information right now, but he stores it in the back of his mind for later. He comes back into the moment to see that he must have zombie walked to his place to get ready for after-practice practice with Bokuto. Looking around, Akaashi sees that more people have stayed after tonight, obviously because of the coach’s words. Matano isn’t one of them.

Bokuto is still talking. “... _could_ be going there to work on defense. You know, like a watch and imitate thing! But I don’t know... Coach _must_ have a reason for it, though! Maybe. Probably. Kokan says Coach does things just for shit and giggles sometimes.”

Akaashi brings himself back to the conversation. “I agree with Kokan.”

Bokuto grins. “Just for shits and giggles?”

Akaashi grins back, although smaller. “Just for shits and giggles.”

" _Oh!_ And I can't wait to see Kuroo and practice my straight with an actual blocker! One of the best blockers, in fact!"

"Sure, Bokuto-san."

Since Akaashi is the only setter who stayed, a couple people join them at their net. It doesn’t leave much room for conversation. They practice until Akaashi says he’s done for the night.

Bokuto and Akaashi leave earlier than they do other nights, which has become their usual when they decide to get ice cream. This time they even leave earlier than a couple of their teammates. Akaashi reminds them to lock up before they leave themselves.

Akaashi reflexively changes with his back to the club room. As he does, Akaashi does _not_ think about why he’s still hesitant to tell Bokuto about his soulmark. It’s not that he doesn’t want to. No, Akaashi is fine with the idea of Bokuto being his soulmate. It’s that...he’s just waiting for the right moment. _Exactly_. Because Bokuto seems like he'd be a romantic, so Akaashi has to wait. 

Ok, ok. Akaashi  _may_ have been putting it off because he can never predict how Bokuto will react to anything, but the jury’s out.

Once they've changed, they head out towards the ice cream shop. The spring weather today has decided that it's still winter, and the temperature had dropped while they'd been at practice. Akaashi has Bokuto pause so that he can pull his jacket from his bag. Bokuto just watches, foot tapping a little. When Akaashi pulls the coat on he reflexively pulls the collar up to cover his cheeks. Something about that causes Bokuto to smile. 

"What?"

"Nothing." Bokuto says, still smiling. He starts off again. 

Akaashi falls in with him after stuffing his hands in his pockets, and repeats, "What."

Bokuto laughs at the lack of anything in Akaashi's voice. "I don't know, I just thought you looked cute all bundled up like that. It's not even that cold."

Akaashi is fighting a scowl, well aware that his cheeks have turned more red than the cold alone would cause. "You'll be cold once you've got ice cream in you, Bokuto-san."

"No I won't! I'm never cold. When we stay the night at Nekoma, the team'll tell you. No one likes to sleep next to me cuz I'm a furnace. That's ok, though, cuz I just get extra room to myself!"

They round the corner to the ice cream shop, only to be met with a "CLOSED" sign. Akaashi can't find it in himself to be disappointed, what with the temperature outside. 

"Aaah  _maaan_...I wanted to try the new chocolate truffle kind today!"

"It must be too cold for business," Akaashi says scanning the dark inside of the store through the windows. 

"But I'm still hot from practice! I need some ice cream to cool off this hot bod." Bokuto is grinning once more, and nudges Akaashi with his elbow. "My bod is hot, Akaashi."

Akaashi gives him a look like he's suffering some great pain, then walks off. 

"Ah–A _kaa_ shi! Where are you going?"

Akaashi talks over his shoulder, but doesn't stop walking. "I have ice cream at my house if you want some. It's not truffle, but it's chocolate."

Bokuto seems to teleport to Akaashi's side. "Akaashi! Of _course_ I will eat your ice cream for you. It would be an honor." Bokuto clenches his fist dramatically in in front of himself when he says it. 

"I never said you could have it all."

"Uuuugh, _why_ Akaashi??"

The thoughts of ice cream feel like they're traveling from Akaashi's brain and down through his spinal cord, making every part of his body cold. He starts to shiver, despite the jacket. "It's faster to my house if we cut through this playground." 

"Okay!" Bokuto runs ahead of Akaashi and climbs up one of the ladders. He's already gone down one slide and well on his way to another before Akaashi reaches the playground himself. Akaashi stops.

The lack of movement does nothing to help with the cold, but he takes a moment to enjoy watching Bokuto have fun on the playground. The shivers continue to get worse. Bokuto tries to do the monkey bars, but he's too tall. He fixes this by pulling his feet up, but his knees are still pretty close to the ground as he goes across. 

When he finishes, Bokuto turns. "Akaashi! Come join me!"

At this point, Akaashi doesn't think he could move a finger let alone a leg, but he attempts shaking his head. How the  _hell_ is Bokuto not freezing his ass off?

Bokuto drags himself over to Akaashi. "Akaaaashi! Why don't you want to come play?"

Akaashi speaks through gritted teeth, his words practically hissed. "It's fucking cold, Bokuto-san."

Only then does Bokuto notice how shivers are shooting through Akaashi's body. Without hesitation, Bokuto throws his arms around Akaashi.

"Why didn't you say anything??" 

Akaashi doesn't dignify that with a response. He's stiff, but relaxes into the sort-of hug as Bokuto's heat is given to him. It's a nice hug. Bokuto  _is_ warm, hot even. Akaashi buries his nose into Bokuto's chest. Bokuto rubs his hands up and down Akaashi's arms for a minute, and then reaches to grab his hands from his pockets. 

The very _second_ that the skin of Bokuto's hands rubs against his own, Akaashi's thoughts go everywhere. 

Bokuto is _hugging_ him. Bokuto is _holding his hands_. Bokuto is _hot_. 

Bokuto's hands radiate heat as much as the rest of him. They're not bigger or smaller than Akaashi's own, but Bokuto definitely has thicker fingers. Each one is rough, dry maybe.

With his face buried in Bokuto's chest and eyes closed, all Akaashi can see now is Bokuto going up for a spike, everything flexed. Bokuto lets go of Akaashi's hands just to hug him again, and those powerful arms are now wrapped around him. The thick legs brush against his own. Akaashi can see Bokuto's intense eyes in his mind focused on hitting the ball with everything he's got. The eyes swivel to focus on Akaashi.

Akaashi could probably use some of that ice cream now. Everything is hot, hot,  _hot._

Bokuto rests his chin on top of Akaashi's head. 

Ok, _that's_ enough for today. 

Akaashi squirms a little to detach from Bokuto, but he catches Akaashi's arms. The intense eyes that Akaashi imagined are currently on him. "Are you ok? Not still cold?"

Akaashi thinks he's never been _less_ cold. "I'm ok." He ignores that it comes out a little breathless. 

Bokuto's own face looks flushed and warm. He lets go of Akaashi's arms.

"Now I know," Akaashi continues, coming down from the high, and stuffs his hands into his pockets once more. 

Bokuto tilts his head, frowning.

"Bokuto-san, when you come with me, it's not faster to go through the park."

 

* * *

 

Akaashi finally fully wakes up on the morning they’re headed to Nekoma when the bus is about five minutes away from the other school. He’d kind of half-slept through the walk to school and loading onto the bus, and had slept deeply most of the ride there, but he finally awoke when they pulled up next to the gym at Nekoma.

When they get off the bus, there’s one guy waiting for them, arms crossed. He’s tall, and has absolutely wild black hair that falls over half his face. Under that, his face is blank as he waits for Fukurodani to finish unloading from the bus, but his eyes are flicking around constantly. Upon catching sight of Bokuto, the blank face slowly crawls up into the most smug smirk Akaashi has ever seen. It honestly isn't that far off from a leer, and Akaashi immediately knows who this is.

“Look what the cat dragged in.”

Bokuto’s head spins over to look at the guy. He looks betrayed. “Brooo... _every_ time, _seriously??_ ”

“Don’t even talk to me, dude. Have you looked in the mirror lately? Your entire being is an owl reference. I have to suffer through that every time I think about you, let alone see you.” The other guy’s face shifts into more of a grin than a smirk.

Bokuto looks like he’s ready to snap back, but the guy continues louder, addressing everyone.

“Hello! Thank you for coming! Captain’s orders are to deliver you all to the rooms you guys can use while you’re here. Follow me!”

He walks away and Akaashi moves with everyone else to follow. Bokuto is huffing a bit when Akaashi settles in beside him, so Akaashi breaks in.

“So that’s Kuroo-san?”

“Yeah, or what he looks like until I get ahold of him.” Bokuto looks like he realizes something. “Ha, I told you that he had an ugly smirk! You knew as soon as you saw, didn’t you? You did, didn’t you.”

Akaashi holds back a laugh, but is unable to contain his smile. “Yes, I _did_ think it was Kuroo-san when I saw his smirk, but I wasn’t sure until you two started talking. Then it was clear.”

“Can you believe that he insulted me like that? I thought we were bros!” They both watch Kuroo lead the way into the building, followed by Kokan and Matano.

“I’m sure that in the nicest way possible, he meant that no one else could possibly pull off that outrageous hair.”

“Hey!” Bokuto frowns, “Wait, was that a compliment? You said I pulled it off. But you also said it was outrageous...I don’t know, but, c’mon, Akaashi! You’re supposed to defend my honor! I can’t have _both_ my bros against me...” Akaashi isn’t sure if Bokuto did it on purpose, but he definitely held the door for Akaashi when they went through it. Akaashi could smell Bokuto's deodorant as he passed. They continue down the hallway, making several turns.

“First, you can take it whichever way you like. Second, I don’t remember signing any sort of documentation that said being a ‘bro’ included defending your honor. I thought it meant keeping your ego in check.”

“ _Hey!_ Ok, I _know_ that wasn’t a compliment.” Bokuto starts whining. “Akaashiii, whyyy?? _Why_ have you betrayed me?” They’ve stopped in front of room that the third years go into, and Akaashi can hear the squeak of shoes on a gym floor just down the hall.

Kuroo has finally heard their conversation apparently, because he feels the need to add, “Already in a bad mood, Bokuto? Good for us.”

As all the other second years file into another room, Bokuto bites back, “Just you wait, Kuroo! You’ll never see me coming!”

“Bokuto-san, no doubt Kuroo-san already knows you can hit well. He’s already on the lookout for you.”

Bokuto wails and flees into the room yelling about betrayal and needing to find better bros.

Snickering, Kuroo takes the first years to a final room, and Akaashi is about to go in, when he’s stopped by a tap on the shoulder. Turning, he sees Kuroo still grinning slightly and looking down at Akaashi like he’s not sure if he should be grateful or wary. “You’re Akaashi, right?”

“Yes.” He sees no point in denying that.

“Bokuto talks about you all the time, it’s good to see that you’re just as great as he says you are.” Kuroo looks to have decided that Akaashi is something to be grateful for, like he’s already picked apart everything about Akaashi from just these few seconds.

“I don’t see how you could’ve have come to that conclusion when we’ve barely spoken, let alone spent any time together. I might not be anything like you expect.” Akaashi tries not to sound defensive.

One side of Kuroo’s lips slowly quirks up into a smirk, “Oh, I think you’re exactly ‘like I expect’.” Then Kuroo turns and walks away, hands in his pockets. It looks like he might actually start whistling.

Akaashi watches Kuroo walk away with narrowed eyes, before he disappears into the first year’s room.

 

* * *

 

On the court, Kuroo looks twice as satisfied with himself as he did in the hallway. It’s kind of irritating, but the exchanges between he and Bokuto are actually pretty entertaining. At least, what Akaashi can hear of them from the bench.

Which is about half, considering Bokuto _doesn’t_ have an inside voice, and Kuroo does.

Nekoma, itself, is holding their own and the teams seem pretty evenly matched. Fukurodani has decent defense and good offense, while Nekoma has a good offense and  _exceptional_ defense. Nekoma's team also seems to be constantly shifting around. Not _obviously,_ but enough that by the second set, Nekoma is picking up hits that they weren't getting before, and the advantage is definitely with Nekoma. 

Akaashi sits on the bench the whole day, but it's not exactly as if he wasn't expecting it. The coach needs to see how people play with Matano; Akaashi will probably take his turn tomorrow. 

The day goes by quickly and after the coaches had confirmed they were done for the night, Bokuto had bolted over Kuroo. Kuroo had looked up, grinning, and they shared a sideways slap of the hands. They snagged a basket of balls and walked over to a free net, talking quickly the whole way there. 

Akaashi watches them from the side of them gym, contemplating. They look like it was routine, like they'd done it together a million times. Akaashi knows that he was now a "bro" but this seems kind of like a two-friends-who-haven't-seen-each-other-in-a-while-need-to-bond-alone kind of a thing. Akaashi takes a moment to observe them together, trying to figure out how he'd be recieved.

Bokuto seems especially animated and about ready to start vibrating in place. He looks good with his cheeks flushed from practice, huge smile on his face, and, of course, his arms and legs are flawless. Since the day of The Hug™, Akaashi can't help but notice them, and every time their hands touch in a high five, he can feel the room temperature rise a couple of degrees. 

Kuroo is taller than Bokuto by a ways, and at the top of him, his crazy hair is crazy. Next to Bokuto's hair style, both of their hair actually looks  _good_ somewhere in Akaashi's head if he was willing to admit it. Actually, both of their  _everythings_ look good, and Akaashi kind of wonders what it would be like to stand in between them with their arms tight around him, looking down at him like they might just pin–

Ok,  _woah._ The gym is not the kind of place to be having that kind of thought. And what the hell?? He finds he's attracted to Bokuto and suddenly everyone's hot? 

They do look good together, and excited by the other's presence. Akaashi would hate to go over and join just to be told they want to spend time alone together.

He's saved from having to make a decision by Bokuto. "Akaashi!! Hurry up! We can't starting hitting until you get over here, and I've got to show this arrogant cat who's boss."

A bit of satisfaction flows through Akaashi at being included with these obviously close friends. He walks over to join them. 

Kuroo is saying, "Bro, I wasn't even the one who made that cat reference."

"GAAH!! It's rubbing off on me!! Akaashi, quick! Tell me something about owls!"

As he reaches them, Akaashi blinks, then replies without tone. "Owls have very good hearing due to their asymmetrical ears, but it's clear that you don't share that trait with owls. The coach sometimes has to tell you to do something three times before you do it." 

Kuroo's eyes brighten and he looks at Akaashi like this might just be the greatest day of his life.

Bokuto's reaction is a bit slower but not to be discarded. He chokes on air for a moment before making some strangled noises and ends with, " _AKAASHI!!"_

Akaashi smiles at him, and he goes back to making unintelligible sounds.  

Kuroo's laughing, "He got you good, man." He turns to Akaashi. "Alright, I'll admit, I wasn't expecting that."

"Good." Akaashi heads over to the setters' spot, while Bokuto sputters on.

Kuroo swats Bokuto's head and that snaps him out of it. "Hey!"

"Are we gonna practice or what?" Kuroo asks, ducking under the net. 

They practice for a while, Bokuto getting some spikes across, Kuroo blocking others. Then Bokuto says, "Hey, bro, I'm gonna practice my straights."

Kuroo smirks and moves to the line, "Thanks for letting me know."

Bokuto scowls, "No, I mean, can you just block with a little space between you and the edge of the court so I can try to hit it? My straights are good, but I wanna have the straightest straights in Tokyo! No, Japan!"

Akaashi hopes Bokuto trying to hitting all these straights won't ensure Bokuto himself is straight.

Kuroo moves over, and they continue. Kuroo doesn't really even have to try to block Bokuto's hits now, they just go directly into his hands. Not a single one goes around, and Akaashi can feel the frustration start to build. The pressure build and build until it peaks with an extraordinarily powerful hit that blows right through Kuroo's hands. 

"AAHG!" Bokuto bends over and clutches his hair.

Kuroo reaches across and lays a hand on Bokuto's arm. "Hey. Bo. That was an amazing hit, I'm serious. I couldn't have stopped it with two other blockers."

Bokuto's head whips up. "But it wasn't straight! It hit your hands!"

Kuroo crosses his arms, and his brow furrows. "It didn't just hit my hands, it went through them like I wasn't even there." Bokuto isn't listening, though; he just drops his head again, hands over his face this time.

Akaashi steps over and lays his hand on Bokuto's other arm. "Bokuto-san?"

Only a loud whine comes from Bokuto's hunched body.

"Have you forgotten what we talked about, Bokuto-san?"

There's no response.

"What are you aiming for? Kuroo-san's hands or outside the net?"

Another pause.

Kuroo interrupts, "Akaashi, maybe–"

Suddenly Bokuto pops right up. "Akaashi! Of course!!" He throws his arms around Akaashi and squeezes before letting go. "How could I have forgotten?!" He points at Kuroo dramatically. "You're going down!"

Kuroo looks a little surprised but grins, nonetheless. "I can't wait."

They set back up. When Bokuto goes up to hit, it seems to Akaashi that he draws all the light in the room to him. Like, his determination to succeed is turned outward and shines through from his very being. He swings his arm through, and the ball glances off the inside of Kuroo's hand to fly off the court. He comes down, breathing hard with piercing eyes.

There's a moment where everything is still. 

Then Bokuto balls both his fists and pumps them toward himself. "Hey!  _Hey!_ HEY!! Didja _see_ that??" He whips around to Akaashi. "Akaashi, A _kaa_ shi!! Did you _see it_??"

The grin on Akaashi's face hurts his cheeks. "I saw it." 

Bokuto turns and  _launches_ himself at Kuroo. "Bro!!" He says, clutching at Kuroo's arms, even with the net between them. " _Bro!!_ Did you see that?"

Kuroo gives an exhilarated laugh, just as infected as Akaashi, and grins back at Bokuto. "I didn't just see it, bro, I  _felt_ it. That was awesome!"

"It was!! It was awesome! It felt so good, bro! I'm– _I'm_ awesome! I hit a straight! Ah–Akaashi!" His eyes pin Akaashi to the spot with the most serious look Akaashi has ever seen him give. 

"Give me another toss!"

Akaashi's smile turns sardonic, and he gives a small salute. "Yes, Ace!"

Bokuto's eyes turn to stars before Akaashi's very eyes. He runs back to his spot and goes up like before, drawing Akaashi in. This time the ball barely brushes Kuroo's hand and slams into the ground. It bounces high and away as Bokuto crows his victory to the gym ceiling. 

 

* * *

 

They're walking back, when, without precedent, Kuroo says, "You know Bokuto, Kenma said today that he'd love to talk to you about how great of a hitter you are, now that he's seen you in person."

"What?!" Bokuto squawks. "I've gotta find him!" He tears off down the hallway in search of the boy.

Kuroo laughs after him, but stays with Akaashi. After a minute of walking, Kuroo catches Akaashi's arm, stopping them, before he lets go. 

"That was something, back there." Kuroo gestures with his head back toward the gym. "I've never seen someone be able to do that with Bokuto."

Akaashi stares at Kuroo, reflecting. "Who did you just sic Bokuto on to get a second to talk with me?"

Kuroo bursts out laughing. "You don't miss a thing, do you?" He laughs some more, and then adds. "Kenma. My best friend. Well, former best friend, now. I'm not sure he'll forgive me for this. He and Bo have never formally met, but they aren't exactly the kind of people to become fast friends." Kuroo snickers some more at the thought of his best friend's face when Bokuto finds him. 

Akaashi decides to answer Kuroo's unanswered question. "I just thought a player as strong as Bokuto doesn't deserve to have his team turn their back on him when he needs them."

Kuroo snickers subside as he mulls that over. "So you just walked in and figured him out?"

Akaashi shrugs, "I can't get him to stay on the court when he's upset yet."

Kuroo peers down at Akaashi, picking him apart. Akaashi has to make a conscious effort not to squirm and continue to meet Kuroo's eyes. "I don't think that's all."

Akaashi lets him think that all he wants, and doesn't make to respond again. 

"Well, either way, it's my duty as Bokuto's Best Bro to not let him pine forever. And considering he's too chicken to do anything about it, I'm saddled with the job. So, are you interested?"

Akaashi would bet a prize racehorse that someone just raised the temperature in here. There's no way he could have gotten this hot this quickly. "Excuse me?"

Kuroo crosses his arms. "Come on, you? Who knew I was siccing Bo on someone, doesn't know what I'm talking about?" 

"You think," Akaashi says slowly, "that Bokuto-san has feelings for me?"

"I don't think, I _know_. That boy will not shut up about you for more than five minutes." 

Akaashi frowns, "But...we have our Soulmarks." He means 'we', as in 'society', and he's glad when Kuroo understands.

Kuroo lifts his eyebrows. "Does that matter to you?"

A pause.

In that pause, Akaashi realizes that Kuroo thinks that Akaashi doesn't have Bokuto for a soulmate, and is asking if Bokuto has a chance with him anyway. Akaashi wonders if he and Bokuto would've gotten along as well if Akaashi hadn't made the effort to get to know him. There's really no way of knowing.

"I..don't know."

Kuroo relaxes, and looks surprised. "But you're not against it?"

"...No."

"Oh." Kuroo uncrosses his arms. "Ok, cool. That's...that's good."

They start walking again.

Akaashi can't quite bite back, "What does Bokuto say?"

Kuroo's eyes light up as he turns to Akaashi. "Oho, digging for compliments, are we~?"

Akaashi regrets everything instantly, and turns away. "Nevermind."

"No, no!" Kuroo swoops around to his other side, laughing. "Bokuto talks _all the damn time_ about how he can't focus in practice, because your face is so bright that it's all he can look at~."

Akaashi looks at Kuroo like he's crazy. It only makes Kuroo laugh harder.

"No, seriously! At this point, he just texts me, 'it happened again,' and I know what he means."

Akaashi blushes hard and looks ahead. 

"And, well, he’s not wrong. You’d be way out of his league if this was based on how attractive you both are alone. I mean, Bo’s arms are something to be had, and he’s not unattractive, but like, you’re a whole ‘nother level."

Kuroo looks Akaashi up and down, considering, and Akaashi wishes he was anywhere but here, in this particular hallway.

"You're just gorgeous. Seriously, a couple guys on my team were asking, 'who's your pretty first year over there?' under the net during one of our matches. It was hilarious! And _Bokuto!_ Man, his reactions were priceless.” Kuroo laughs fondly at the memory as he stops at an intersection. "Gotta go, this is my corner. Don't worry, though, if everything works out, Bo'll shower you with compliments. See ya later, Akaashi!"

For the second time that day, Akaashi watches Kuroo walk away while feeling distinctly uncomfortable from their interaction. He feels exceedingly aware of the fact that he was walking next to an  _extremely_ attractive guy, and said guy was telling him that his hot-as-hell best friend thinks Akaashi is pretty, and he, himself, also finds Akaashi gorgeous. Whilst said hot-as-hell best friend is also Akaashi's Soulmate. It's a little disconcerting, and he wants to sink into the floor rather than return to the rooms.

He goes anyway, willing his face to return to normal.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rip kenma EDIT: someone pointed out to me that it should, in fact, be "rip kuroo" lol. i said the wrong name
> 
> i put a tentative chapter count on this, because i don't like open ended things, but know that it's subject to change depending on how things end up playing out on paper (computer file, whate'er guys) compared to what's in my head, but i'm aiming for 4 chapters a person
> 
> also, ok, idk how often in Japan they have 3-day weekends, and i know some schools have school on saturdays, but for the sake of this fic, just go with it, the only reason i'm winging it and not doing any research is that i don't really think anyone will get offended


	4. Akaashi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Do you trust me, Bokuto-san?”
> 
> Bokuto blinks. “Of course, Akaashi!”
> 
> “Then promise me you'll stay on the court, with me, and I’ll bring you up.”

When Akaashi gets back, he finds Bokuto in the first years' room waiting for him.

He grouses, "Akaashi..."

_Bokuto is down already? That was quick..._

Akaashi sighs, "Yes, Bokuto-san?"

"I couldn't find Kenma!" Bokuto wails.

From the back of the room, the other first years look at Bokuto with suffering looks. Then they shift their eyes to Akaashi, pleading with him. Akaashi nods back, wanting his _own_ peace and quiet.

"Well, you're not going to find him in here." Akaashi steps back into the hall. As if in habit, Bokuto follows him.

"I _know_ that Akaashi, but when I went to Nekoma's rooms, the third years caught me, and they told me to go away." They walk into the second year's room and Bokuto flops  on his futon face-first.

"Well, it _is_ their school. They probably just don't want you walking around and potentially breaking something." A couple of the second years in the room stifle laughter.

Bokuto's response is muffled.

Amused, Akaashi continues. "It's probably for the best, anyway, since Kuroo lied."

Slowly, Bokuto's head turns around so he's looking up at Akaashi from an odd angle.

"What?"

One side of Akaashi's mouth quirks up; he has absolutely no reservations about throwing Kuroo under the bus. "Kuroo lied about Kenma-san wanting to talk to you. He thought it'd be funny to see you charging off, and I'm assuming twice as funny to see Kenma-san's reaction to you." Bokuto's eyes were wide. "He confided to me that Kenma-san's personality doesn't exactly fit with yours."

Bokuto squawks, "What?! I'm great friends with everyone! And- And that _ass,_ why'd he just send me off running like that?" He starts to get up. "I'm gonna go give him a pie–"

Akaashi lightly grabs Bokuto's arm. "Why don't you just beat him tomorrow on the court? It's late."

Bokuto is now rolling his sleeves up, "Yeah, well, no amount of beauty sleep is going to help him anyway."

From the back of the room there comes, "Get him, Bokuto!" and "Show him who's boss."

Akaashi rolls his eyes. "Bokuto-san, just go to sleep. You can beat up Kuroo-san in the morning."

"Geeeh, fine, but don't think I'll forget this." He flops back down. Akaashi starts to leave.

"Goodnight, Akaashi!"

"Goodnight, Bokuto-san."

Akaashi leaves before he’s dragged into any more of Bokuto's dramatics tonight.

Laying down on his own futon in the first year's room, Akaashi finally relaxes. As much as he likes hanging out with Bokuto, sometimes the best moments of the day are the ones he has to himself. He stares into the darkness around him.

_Fuck._

Akaashi squeezes his eyes shut and tries not to think, but the thoughts come anyway. Now that Akaashi is able to process what Kuroo said in the hallway, he can feel the anxiety build. Bokuto has _feelings_ for him. As in, would-forget-about-his-Soulmate-for-Akaashi kind of feelings.

Except, Akaashi _is_ his soulmate. And now that Akaashi knows that Bokuto will be happy about it, he has absolutely _no_ reason not to confess.

_Fuck._

Maybe...Akaashi can spend the day setting to Bokuto and spend the night practice doing that, too, and then say something super dramatic like, 'I could spend the rest of my life setting to you.'

Ok, gross, no.

Actually, the thought of confessing to Bokuto at a volleyball camp at a different school where literally anyone else can walk in seems like a horrible idea in and of itself. Akaashi will just have to put it off until they get home. That also gives him more time to think about what he should say...

_Yes, excellent plan._

Akaashi falls asleep with thoughts of confessing pushed to the back of his mind and looking forward to putting his own setting skills against Nekoma the next day.

 

* * *

 

 

Akaashi spends the entire next day on the bench.

It's extremely irritating to watch as every single other person sets or spikes or receives except him. As the day goes on, he passes from irritated into seething. He huffs out breaths every time Matano sets the ball. It might even be a good toss, but Akaashi can't help but feel resentment towards the fact that he isn't the one tossing. During lunch, Akaashi barely hears Bokuto, but makes an effort to at least respond when there's a pause in the conversation.

"Aaaaaah, I'm so tired..."

"Mmm."

At one point, Bokuto stops talking for longer than a pause, and Akaashi looks up to see Bokuto focused on him. He's still shoving food in his mouth, but his eyes are scanning Akaashi's face with narrowed eyes.

"Yes?"

"Are you ok, Akaashi?" Great, now Bokuto is picking up on it.

"I'm fine." Akaashi tries to put some inflection in his voice, but fails.

"Are you sure? You're not responding as much as you usually do."

"Yes, Bokuto-san, just....just a little restless."

Bokuto's eyes return to their normal gaze, and he blinks. "Oh. Ok." He returns to his food.

Back on the bench, Akaashi's huffing has become obvious enough for the other people on the bench to notice and they give him some space.

About halfway through the afternoon, the coach calls Akaashi closer. He pats the bench next to himself. Akaashi sits down stiffly.

"Calm down, Akaashi."

This really only makes Akaash feel more tense, but he nods to show he's listening.

"Akaashi, I'm not keeping you out to punish you, right now I need your eyes."

That makes Akaashi irritated _and_ confused; he keeps his incredulous look trained on the court. Although, the coach must read it through his silence, because he elaborates.

"You're observant; you see things that other people might miss. I need you to watch, Akaashi. When you've seen what I want you to see, you can play."

Unprepared for the praise, Akaashi's irritation fizzles. He glances at the coach next to him, but he's focused on the game. So Akaashi turns forward and focuses, too.

He watches Fukurodani fall farther and farther behind as Nekoma continues to adjust to every little thing that makes up the Fukurodani team.

After a while, Akaashi says slowly, "We...we won't win like this."

"No," the coach agrees. "Nekoma's defense is as good as it always is. They're not a nationals level team, yet, I suppose, and they'll crush us by the end of the weekend if we continue like this."

Akaashi turns to the coach. "Why are you telling _me_ this? I'm a first year."

"I told you, you have good eyes. You're also going to be the setter next year, whether or not you start this year, so you may as well know the team inside and out."

"What do– I mean, what can we do?" Akaashi asks as they watch the Nekoma libero pop up an exceptionally hard receive.

The coach lets a long breath go, like he's been mulling it over for a long while. "That's the question, isn't it?" They fall silent.

Akaashi looks again. So...both Nekoma's and Fukurodani's offenses are good, and while Nekoma's defense is unlikely to meet its match, Fukurodani's is clearly lacking.

Akaashi tries, "Our defense isn't very good..." This is made more obvious when the next ball is a campfire, with three players looking at each other as the ball hits the floor.

"No, but we usually start out each new season with a haphazard defense. It's mostly caused by not having a solidified lineup."

That makes sense to Akaashi. The more players get used to the people beside them, the better they can communicate, and the defense improves overall.

"You think we need a better offense." It's not a question this time.

"Yes. We've had strong spikers in the past that make up for having just above average blocks and receives. This year we have strong spikers and a particular spiker that developed as a first year to exceed my expectations." Bokuto goes up for a hit and pounds it through the three-man block on the other side. "The only problem is consistency."

"Bokuto-san taking himself out."

The coach hums in agreement. "I've tried working with him, talking about it, and whatnot, but once he's down, he doesn't want to come out of it."

 _That's not fair._ "It's not that he doesn't _want_ to come out of it. It's that he doesn't know how."

The coach grunts. They don't speak again after that.

 ****With Fukurodani falling behind, inevitably, the players on the court start to get frantic. Bokuto misses a couple of spikes trying too hard to compensate for his team, and gets agitated. Everyone else follows his lead, and everything falls apart from there. It doesn't take long for Bokuto's mood to drop.

Watching Bokuto fight on the court with everything he has, and get nowhere, makes Akaashi feel frustrated on his behalf. Feelings aren't exactly something that anyone can control. On the other hand, the coach can't exactly make excuses for someone just because they have extreme feelings.

Akaashi fights the urge to rubs his hands through his hair and pull it clean out. Instead, he just watches, yet again, as Bokuto pulls himself off the court.

 

* * *

 

That night, before they can break up for individual practice, Kokan catches everyone to announce that the team will not be splitting due to being in severe need of bonding time. Everyone looks at their captain like he's crazy.

"Listen, it's serious! We're never going to meld on the court if we can't meld off the court, so: bonding time."

There are cheers and groans in response to this, and Akaashi definitively identifies with the groans. He wonders how hard it would be to sneak off while the rest of the team eats.

Considering the depressing presence hovering at his side, Akaashi doesn't think it will be very likely.

"Eeehh, Akaaaashiii, I'm really craving some ice cream. Do you think they'll have any at dinner?"

Akaashi responds while they walk to the rooms. “Considering they didn’t have any kind of desert yesterday or for lunch today, I’m going to say no.”

“Aaaaaaaghhh!!”

Akaashi doesn’t find a time to sneak away during dinner, but he does at least manage to bring Bokuto out of his slump.

They’re all walking towards the rooms, and Akaashi isn’t even trying to escape at this point. He’s just planning on stopping in the first year’s room to put his shoes down. As he passes the third year’s room to head to his own a face appears in front of him. Akaashi reels back slightly.

It’s a second year, a friend of Bokuto’s with sandy hair, and a sneaky look constantly plastered on his face. He has no problem getting right back up in Akaashi’s face.

“Oooooooo, what do we have here? A baby first year trying to get out of bonding? I don’t think so!”

Before Akaashi can blink, he’s spun around, and given a friendly shove into the third year’s room. Within a few minutes, the room is full and everyone has situated themselves into a rough circle.

Kokan announces that they will be playing Truth or Dare. There’s a _lot_ of protest.

“Alright, alright, shut up! It’s about trusting each other not to make you do dumb shit, you’ll be fine.”

Surprisingly, he’s right. There aren’t any weird truths or extreme dares, and Akaashi actually starts to get pretty bored.

When he’s finally called, it’s by the second year from the hallway.

“Akaashi…” he drawls.

Akaashi does his best to meet the guy’s eyes with the flattest look he’s ever given, practically begging for an interesting dare.

“Dare.”

“Oooh, hmm. I dare you...to do a handstand.”

_Seriously?_

Akaashi doesn’t bother responding, he just gives a withering look and gets up to step into the middle of the circle where the rest of the dares had been performed. Akaashi hopes his muscle memory is good, what with the hundreds of handstands he did when he was tired of doing the things he usually did and had no siblings to fight with.

“Go Akaashi!”

Akaashi turns to Bokuto and gives him a small smile in thanks before he bends over smoothly and uses the momentum to kick his feet up

It’s as Akaashi steadies himself straight up and down that he realizes his mistake.

Gravity.

Akaashi feels his loose practice shirt slide against his skin to bunch at his shoulders, revealing his torso...

...including his Soulmark.

 _Screw this dare._ Akaashi shifts to let himself fall back down. Hard.

Akaashi lays there for a moment, looking at the ground between his outstretched hands. The chill of fear creeps down his spine and around his heart. It’s contrasted by the stifling heat of the silence that grips the room.

It’s, of course, broken by Bokuto. “Akaashi, are you alright??”

Akaashi looks up at Bokuto’s concerned face in front of him, and remembers the circle around him. Only part of the team was at an angle to see. It was quick, too; maybe no one saw anything.

Akaashi self-consciously shifts to tug his shirt back into place, and glances at the faces of the people on the other side of the circle.

_Shit._

There’s about seven faces with shocked looks on their faces. When he checks, a couple of them jerk their eyes in other directions, while another’s jaw has actually dropped.

Akaashi quickly looks away to try to avoid the situation. He pushes himself up on his knees and hopes that they can forget this happened.

“Akaashi!” The voice comes from behind him. “I didn’t know your Mark had Cleared!”

Well, so much for that.

There are sounds of skin hitting skin, and a “Hey!” followed by furious whispering. Similar mutters are spread throughout the rest of the circle; a few people grin, expecting Akaashi’s embarrassed response, unknowing of the can of worms that has been ripped open.

Bokuto is still focused on Akaashi’s face, and a frown replaced his concerned face. He opens his mouth to say something, but Akaashi decides that he doesn’t want to answer any of Bokuto’s thousands of questions.

Abruptly, Akaashi stands up, brushes the front of his shirt off, and walks directly out of the room, ignoring the silence that descends as he leaves.

 

* * *

 

Akaashi finds himself sitting on the top step of a random staircase in the school. He wasn’t sure where to go, but here seemed as good as any other place to wallow in self-pity. Plus, he’s fairly certain Bokuto will come looking for him, so he may as well be easy to find otherwise the idiot will go outside and catch a cold.

_Shit, this isn’t good._

Akaashi doesn’t want to jump to conclusions and assume that they’ll tell Bokuto everything, but he has to be ready since there’s still a slim chance of it happening.

Bokuto would be upset, upset that Akaashi didn’t tell him. He’d think Akaashi was ashamed or disappointed or something else equally stupid. Emotional, that’s what Bokuto would be.

If they didn’t tell Bokuto…

Akaashi sighs quietly. If they didn’t tell Bokuto, it’s really only a matter of time until he found out; then Bokuto would be, as stated before, upset. Akaashi faces the realization that if Bokuto doesn’t find out tonight, then he needs to tell him.

Shifting to put his head in his hands, with his elbows digging into his knees, Akaashi can’t understand why he feels so anxious about it. He knows Bokuto feels the same way; he knows he won’t get rejected, so why?

The sound of feet shuffling up the steps breaks into Akaashi’s thoughts, but he doesn’t raise his head. The person stops.

They clearly hesitate.

“Akaashi?”

Bokuto. Just as Akaashi suspected. Unfortunately, Akaashi can’t tell from his tone if he knows.

After a moment, Akaashi lets a long breath go, and looks up into Bokuto’s eyes.

Bokuto’s eyes are just as piercing as usual, gold and bright. They don’t look upset, though. They’re filled with worry, and something else...

“I was gonna get Kuroo to help me find you, but uh, I didn’t want to risk their third years again, haha.” Bokuto scratches the side of his neck, clearly uncomfortable.

Akaashi watches the worry leave Bokuto’s face as he sees that he is alright. Akaashi lets himself continue to stare into Bokuto’s eyes; the familiar gold takes over his vision and sweeps through him. He feels the color catch on something in his heart and coax it out. It feels warm and calming.

“It’s you.”

Bokuto looks at Akaashi like he’s off his rocker a little.

“Uh, yeah, Akaashi. It’s me, Bokuto.”

Akaashi shakes his head puffs out a fond laugh. The warm feeling pulses through him now, chasing away his nerves. “No, Bokuto-san. It’s _you_ ; you’re my Soulmate.”

Bokuto’s face goes straight through a little shocked and settles on looking like he was  struck by lightning. “ _What??_ ”

The strangled noise combined with the feeling of relief and warmth in Akaashi’s chest, causes Akaashi to dissolve into laughter, his eyes squeezing shut. He stands and places his hands on Bokuto’s shoulders. “Yes, Bokuto-san. _You_ are my Soulmate.”

Bokuto’s shock gives way, and the grin that comes after is _dazzling_. Bokuto roughly yanks Akaashi against him, and attempts to squeeze all the breath from his body. Akaashi puffs more laughter into Bokuto’s hair, and he can feel Bokuto’s delighted laughing against him.

Bokuto pulls Akaashi back to look him in the eye, pinning him. “Akaashi.”

“Yes, Bokuto-san.”

Bokuto’s face scrunches. “Ok, the first thing I will do as your Soulmate is–”

“You’ve been my Soulmate for a while, Boku–”

“The _first thing I will do_ is say that you can never add ‘-san’ to the end of my name again.” Bokuto looks so satisfied that Akaashi can’t help himself.

“Sure, Bokuto-san.”

Bokuto deflates against Akaashi, arms loosening. “ _Akaashi…_ ”

Akaashi laughs again, probably a record for the amount of times in under five minutes. “Alright, alright, Bokuto, then.”

Bokuto pops back up smiling and he waggles his eyebrows. “You could even call me Koutarou if you want.”

“I’ll stick with Bokuto.”

“Ok...hey, hey! ‘Kaashi, Akaashi!”

“Bokuto, I’m literally _in_ your arms. You have my attention.”

“Ok, well, I was just wondering, since we’re Soulmates and everything…”

“You are _my_ Soulmate, we can’t be sure if I’m yours.”

“Yeah, yeah! But since that’s a thing, can I kiss you? Like, a real kiss, right on the lips?” Bokuto looks like a puppy that just had a treat for the first time and is hoping for another.

There’s no way Akaashi can stand up to that. You know, if he wanted to.

Smiling, Akaashi answers, “Of course.”

Bokuto plunges forward as he pulls Akaashi towards him, and their lips end up smashed together somewhat awkwardly. It’s pretty clear that Bokuto has no idea what he’s doing, but he makes up for it with enthusiasm.

When Bokuto pulls back, both his eyes and lips are shining, and Akaashi can still feel where their lips touched. Bokuto leans back in to bring their foreheads together and says, “I’m so happy.”

Akaashi hums in response, but thinks that he couldn’t agree more. They stay like that for a while before Akaashi decides it’s late enough.

“We need to head back, Bokuto.”

Bokuto makes a noise of protest and doesn’t let go.

“Bokuto…”

Bokuto reluctantly releases him. “You’re no fun, Akaashi.”

Akaashi raises his eyebrows slightly, then quickly says, “Race you back,” and takes off, not looking back when he hears the squawk come from behind him.

He can feel Bokuto hot on his heels the whole way back to their rooms, but he never overtakes him. When they get to the door of the second year’s room, one after the other, they bend over, panting.

“I– I win.” Akaashi breathes out.

Bokuto straightens immediately. “What!! No way, you cheated!”

Akaashi straightens up as well, and smirks. “It’s not cheating if there’re no rules.”

Akaashi turns to head to his room, but Bokuto grabs his hand to halt him, so he turns back.

“Akaashi, this wasn’t a really realistic dream, right?”

Akaashi smiles softly. “No Bokuto. It’s real.”

Bokuto grins and releases his hand. “Ok. Goodnight, Akaashi!”

“Goodnight.”

Akaashi collapses on his futon in the dark first year room. With his classmates already asleep, Akaashi lets loose a happy smile.

He dreams of gold eyes, bright smiles and shining lips.

 

* * *

 

Sunday morning, the last morning of the camp, dawns way too early for a bunch of exhausted athletes; it’s pretty obvious at breakfast what happened last night between Akaashi and Bokuto to anyone with working eyes.

Bokuto isn’t exactly a subtle person.

While Bokuto is usually by Akaashi’s side, but there’s a visible difference between standing next to someone and actually _hanging off of them._

Akaashi gives him a hard look. “Bokuto, I need to be able to _walk_.”

Bokuto looks a little sheepish, but grins anyway. “Sorry.” He backs off to just touching Akaashi constantly without the hanging.

Akaashi sighs.

Kuroo has a field day. He’s also _constantly_ _there_ , just beyond Bokuto, snickering. Seriously, he snickers through the entire breakfast, the walk to the gym and warm-ups. He keeps winking at Akaashi, too, as though he was a huge help in getting them together.

Akaashi decides to just let him think that.

“Akaashi!”

Akaashi looks to see the coach waving him over.

When he jogs over the coach says, “You’re going in right away today, Akaashi. You need the experience as well as Matano needs the break. I don’t expect you to do anything about what we discussed yesterday in such a short time, it’s just something to keep in mind while you’re on the court.”

Akaashi nods. “Yes sir.”

They start the first match fifteen minutes later.

It starts out just as badly as the match yesterday had ended.

Akaashi grits his teeth and fights the discouraged air that has settled over his team. When he catches glimpses of Bokuto’s face it drops to a constant scowl. His yells are also getting exceedingly loud.

Akaashi knows what’s coming.

When Bokuto comes down from a solid hit, Akaashi tries praise.

“Bokuto that was a great hit.”

Akaashi feels the prickle of anxiety when Bokuto looks at him almost like he doesn’t recognize him, but his eyes clear. Bokuto gives a surprised smile.

“It was good, wasn’t it? Aw yeah, I’m back!” Bokuto pumps his fists in the air, then points across the net. “Watch out, Kuroo! We’re coming for you!”

Akaashi’s other teammates, along with some of the people on the other side of the net, look at him like he performed some kind of sorcery.

Akaashi smirks and goes back to his position. The air around him feels looser now.

The respite is brief; Nekoma blocks Bokuto three times consecutively.

It looks again like Bokuto is one more lost point away from leaving the game. Akaashi feels like walking over and banging his head against the pole that holds the net up.

So, Akaashi doesn’t set to him. If he doesn’t set to Bokuto, he can’t lose one more point and decide to go out. It’s not as if Akaashi doesn’t have other options.

They play a few more volleys before Akaashi notices Bokuto is giving him a _look._ A look that questions why Akaashi hasn’t been tossing to him, a look that begs him to.

So Akaashi gives him a _look_ right back, glancing at the edge of the court. Bokuto looks doubtful, but he nods.

When the time comes, the middle blocker comes in like the previous time, ready to hit. Akaashi send the ball right past him, straight out to Bokuto.

Bokuto slams it home right on the edge of the court. He looks at the spot where it hit the ground blankly.

Akaashi takes the chance.

Patting Bokuto’s shoulder, Akaashi says, “Great job, Ace.”

From the back row comes, “Yeah! Nice hit, Bokuto, that was so cool!”

Akaashi looks around in surprise as another person says, “Wow, our Ace is the best!”

It has the more than the desired effect.

“Hey! _Hey! HEY!_ I am on _fire!_ Did you see me, Akaashi?! Did you _see?_ ”

Looking at the satisfied looks on each of his teammates’ faces, Akaashi’s mouth quirks into a smile.

“I told you ‘great job,’ Bokuto.”

“Aaaaaahh _yeeeahhh,_ bring it!!”

The game goes smoothly from there. No matter how well adapted, Nekoma’s defence has no chance against a Bokuto in top form, and Fukurodani quickly takes the match.

Off the court the coach gives Akaashi an impressed look, and when Akaashi looks, Matano is looking at Bokuto with a little frown.

Akaashi can’t help the pride and satisfaction that rises in him.

The rest of the day is spent fighting tooth and nail for the final match of the weekend, but once more, Nekoma simply cannot stop the raw power that Bokuto possesses. Especially with the other hitters added into the mix.

The Fukurodani team plans to leave after lunch, so when the second match ends, they help clean and put everything away.

While they’re eating, Kuroo gets a surprise.

“Wait, Bokuto _is_ your Soulmate _?_ You little shit! You were just playing with me, what the hell?”

“No, you _were_ helpful.” Akaashi pauses, and smirks. “But looking back on it, it is pretty funny.”

Kuroo looks accusingly at Akaashi for a moment before giving up and looking back down to his food.

A soft voice speaks up. “I didn’t know Kuroo could be speechless. I applaud you.”

They all look to the fourth person of their little group that had gone pretty unnoticed until he spoke up.

He’s short, and only looks smaller with his hunched shoulders. He has longer black hair shading a soft face and eyes that Akaashi swears at first glance have pupils with slits like a cat’s. There’s a small smile on his face.

Akaashi returns it. “I’m glad to be of service. Kenma-san, is it?”

The boy nods and looks down at his food, hair covering the entirety of his face.

It seems Kuroo has no reservations about bothering Kenma, as he reaches over and ruffles Kenma’s hair into a mess. Kenma quickly leans away but the damage was done. He glares at Kuroo, but it just causes Kuroo to laugh.

“Woah! Bro, you were right, he does look like a cat!” Bokuto’s eyes are wide.

Kenma turns his glare to Bokuto, but his face flushes a little. “I’m done.” With that, he gets up and heads to dump off his dishes.

After they’re done eating, the Fukurodani players head out to the bus.

Akaashi gets right on, but he looks out the window in time to see the embarrassing goodbye between Bokuto and Kuroo. They’re hugging and giving each other big slaps on the back. When they pull away, Kuroo dramatically wipes away a fake tear, and Akaashi rolls his eyes.

Bokuto is the last to get on, but he finds his seat next to Akaashi, and falls in the seat and Akaashi. Once more, Bokuto throws his arm around Akaashi and pulls him towards himself. Bokuto turns and nuzzles his face in Akaashi’s hair while he continues to stare out the window. He’ll admit that it feels nice, and the warmth from last night returns.

On the bus ride home, everyone falls asleep almost instantly, but something has been niggling at the back of Akaashi’s mind. Bokuto seems occupied, but not like he’s going to fall asleep, so he voices it.

“Bokuto, why can’t you sit still on the sidelines, when you take yourself out?” Akaashi is starting to get an inkling, but he wants to hear Bokuto’s answer.

“Because I want to hit.” Bokuto says it simply, as if Akaashi should know. “Because even when I think I shouldn’t be playing, I can’t help but want to hit. And when my team is struggling, I want to help them! I want to help them win!!”

_Aha._

Akaashi smiles. It must seem out of nowhere, but Bokuto tentatively reciprocates it. “Do you trust me, Bokuto?”

Bokuto blinks. “Of course, Akaashi!”

“Then promise you’ll stay on the court, with me, and I’ll bring you up.”

Bokuto grins. “I promise, Akaashi, I’ll stay with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahaha, i'm so good at foreshadowing
> 
> in other news, i got a beta!! i super happy about it and hopefully everything will read a lot smoother now, and it makes me feel a lot better about how my writing looks sooooo maybe it'll be quicker posting?? haha feel free to call me out, i'm moving back to college in a week, so i'd really like to get the fifth chapter out before everything gets crazy
> 
> find me on tumblr at fxvixen, i love screaming with people, and if you have any questions about this universe i'll be happy to answer or, you know, come up with an answer on the spot lmao


	5. Kuroo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroo Testurou went into his second year of high school feeling pretty confident in himself, and pretty confident that the year was going to be boring as hell.  
> 
> As it usually happens when people make assumptions, he could not possibly have been more wrong. In fact, he barely got home from volleyball practice on the first day of school before the year started to get interesting.

Kuroo Testurou went into his second year of high school feeling pretty confident in himself, and pretty confident that the year was going to be boring as hell.  

As it usually happens when people make assumptions, he could not possibly have been more wrong. In fact, he barely got home from volleyball practice on the first day of school before the year started to get interesting.

 

* * *

 

Kuroo had just dropped his bag and flopped face-first down on his bed when his phone went off. Luckily, it was already in his hand, otherwise it probably would've gone unanswered. He shifted his head to look at who it was, then sighed as he brought the phone to his ear.

"Sup."

"Fuck me, Kuroo, just... _god._ Fuck, me."

Unperturbed, Kuroo had answered, "I'm not sure if I can fit that into my schedule of doing nothing and ignoring my homework all night."

"No, seriously, Kuroo, I'm so fucked. I mean, what the _fuck_."

Realizing this is going to be a long conversation, Kuroo turned onto his back to stare blankly at the ceiling. "I'm gonna need more than the word 'fuck' to know what's going on, Bo."

"Ok, fuck. Uh....ok... _fuck,_ ok, so, there's this freshman, right? On the volleyball team."

"Mhmm?"

"His name is Akaashi, and he's just fucking amaaazing, bro...."

 

* * *

 

That conversation had pretty much set the tone for the start of the school year: Kuroo would get home, flop, and wait for the inevitable call from Bokuto. Sometimes it'd take a little longer for the call to come - which Kuroo found out was because Bokuto and his new freshman setter, Akaashi, were going out for ice cream – but it always came. On the weekends Bokuto would come over or Kuroo would go to his house, and throughout the day Akaashi's name would continue to pop up the conversation.  

"And, and I've been doing what you said, right? I've been trying to give him space, not overwhelm him, and be around him all the time, and all that."

"Nice."

"But he is _hot,_ Kuroo. He's hot as hell, but he's also, like, insanely cute. Like, he's not a small guy, but he's a little smaller than me and I wanna pick him up and carry him off into the sunset."

"Hm...romantic~," Kuroo teased, smiling up at his ceiling.

"Well, you know, that and fuck him senseless."

"Of course."

Not that Kuroo minded. He was happy for Bokuto to find somebody he liked...

But he was a little nervous.

It _was_ the 21 st century, people didn't exactly _have_ to be with whoever's name showed up on their skin. Considering some never even found their Soulmate, it wasn't exactly unexpected that they'd find happiness with someone else.  

There were some people, though - call them what you will, Romantics, conservatives, etc. - that looked down on anyone that was with someone who wasn't their Soulmate. Kuroo didn't agree with them, but he supposed he could see where they were coming from. It would be nice to meet someone and know they were destined to be with you, to know that that person was ideally suited to be your… “life companion” or whatever.  

Kuroo just hoped that Akaashi would be open to anything that Bokuto would want, Soulmark or not.  

Of course–

Akaashi then proceeded to exceed all of Kuroo's expectations at the Nekoma training camp; he really was a great guy, and Kuroo was extremely happy for Bokuto.  

And _then_ the fucker was like, _Oh, by the way, Bokuto_ **_is_ ** _my Soulmate._

Wow.  

There wasn't much of change after that, honestly; Kuroo still got regular calls about how amazing Akaashi was. He and Bo still hung out on the weekends, but admittedly less than they did before he and Akaashi got together.

This didn't really bother Kuroo either, as he would just go over and annoy Kenma instead.  

 

* * *

 

"Kenmaaaaaa~"

"Kuroo, for the last time, I'm not going outside to practice with you." As he said it, Kenma's hands jerked to the left reflexively while trying to avoid getting cut down on the screen.  

"But why not?"

Entirely focused on the game, Kenma's answer was somewhat slow. "Because...I spend all....week in that gym and...all I do is pick up the third year's crap."

"Exactly! You need to come outside and practice with me so you don't forget how to set. I'll need you as my setter next year, remember?"

Kenma slid a glare Kuroo's way before he turned back just to press pause; he then placed all of his attention, previously focused on the game, on Kuroo laying on his bed behind him.  

"Why are you here, Kuro?"

_Shit, the nickname. Gotta be careful._

"Uh, to hang out with my best friend?" Kuroo looked at Kenma like it should be obvious.

Kenma narrowed his eyes. "Ok, now that we've got that crap out of the way, why are you really here, Kuro?"

Kuroo stared at Kenma, considering.  

He smirked. "If you don't like my answer, then why don't you give one?"

Kenma scrunched his face in response to Kuroo's smirk, but frowned at his words.  

"Kuro, you used to be over here one weekend a month, maybe. You'd say we didn't need to hang out because you see me during the week. Now you're here every weekend."

"Maybe I just miss you!"

"You see me _every day_. What happened to hanging out with Bokuto?"

Kuroo took _just_ too long to answer, and there lay his downfall.  

"Well, you see–"

_"Kuro."_

Kuroo put his hands up defensively. "Ok, ok." He took a deep breath, and when he let it out, his whole demeanor seemed to collapse. "Ok."

He must have really looked bad, because Kenma's face struggled before settling on a look of concern. He never touched Kuroo, but he did scooch closer, setting his game down and wrapping his arms around his knees.

They sat in silence for a few minutes while Kuroo gathered his thoughts.  

"I'm happy for them."

A pause.  

"Ok?"  

Kuroo huffed a laugh. "I just...I feel like that needs to be said. I'm– I'm _so_ happy for Bo, really. I'm just... lonely, I guess. I miss him, he's my best bro."

"….have you told him?"

Kuroo's face cringed. "I don't want to make him feel guilty or anything."

There was a sudden yank on his hair, and Kuroo let out a yelp, immediately reaching for the pain.  

"Hey!"

"If you're gonna be stupid, then you get hurt." Kenma settled his arm back around his legs.

Kuroo rubbed the spot with a pout on his face. "Fuck, that really hurt! I think you pulled some of it out."

"Well, it's not like it could actually ruin your appearance."

"Ok, rude, dude."

Kenma's face scrunched again at that, and he shifted away to resume his playing. "Don't call me that ever again."

Kuroo snickered. "So are we done with Interrogate Kuroo Time™, then?"

"As long as you're done being stupid and you're actually going to talk to him."

Sobering, Kuroo said, "I will," and peeked over Kenma's shoulder at the game he was playing.

"Hey, Kenma?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks. You're pretty cool."

Kenma didn't give a coherent response to that, just grumbled with slightly tinted cheeks.  

 

* * *

 

The next Friday, Kuroo had stared long and hard at his phone. He finally dialed Bokuto's number when he heard Kenma's voice telling him, _Get over yourself, you big baby._

Bokuto picked up almost immediately.  

"Hey, hey, hey! Bro!"

Kuroo laughed, relieved somewhat at the natural answer. "Hey, hey, Bo!"

"What's up, my man?"

Kuroo swallowed, but forced his smile, knowing it'd be heard through the phone. "You coming over this weekend?"

"Sure!! We haven't hung in forever!"

Kuroo relaxed muscles he has no idea were tensed. "Nice!"

"Hey, hey, Kuroo! Akaashi can come, too, right?"

And...now they were tense again.

"Uh...haha, sure."

There was the sound of muttering on the other end.  

"Oh, uh, Akaashi says that he actually can't come this weekend...so, it'll just be you and me, I guess."

Kuroo's excitement at having bro time with Bokuto was slashed at the sound of the absolute disappointment in Bokuto's voice when he heard that Akaashi wouldn't be there.  

"Ah, okay. That's cool, too." Kuroo ignored the squeezing of his heart that came from getting what he wanted at the price of Bo's happiness.  

 

* * *

 

When Bokuto showed up the next day, he was in a horrible mood, and while Kuroo knew Bokuto pretty well, he was no Akaashi….apparently.  

"Gaaah!! I already miss him." Bokuto was slumped down on Kuroo's bed while Kuroo awkwardly sat on the edge of it just looking at him.  

Kuroo sighed. "You just saw him yesterday, or actually, last night."

"Yeah, but I miss him still."

Kuroo attempted to get Bokuto's mind off of it, faking cheerfulness and hoping Bokuto would catch on. "You wanna play a game with me? Or we could go play volleyball in the park like we usually do? Or! I've heard that Mrs. D down the street got chickens! She's raising chickens in her backyard! You wanna go see them?"

"Hmm...volleyball reminds me of Akaashi...he gives the best tosses..." Bokuto was clearly out of it. His head had tilted to the side and his eyes stared blankly at the wall.

Kuroo could only pretend for so long and he was getting near his breaking point. "Ok, well, if you want to see Akaashi so bad, maybe you should just go home." He got up from the bed and opened his bedroom door, gesturing for Bokuto to go out it.  

Bokuto's head swiveled to him, blinking several times. He pushed up onto his elbows and said intelligently, "Huh?"

Kuroo rolled his eyes, gesturing to the open door again. "If you're not having a grand ol' time since Akaashi isn't here, then just go home."

"What, why?"

Kuroo narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, ready for whatever outcome, now that he was in the moment. "This is the first time we've hung out in over a month, and you're spending it slouching around like a potato, whining about Akaashi not being here. If you don't want to hang out with me, then just head home already."

Bokuto jumped up, swiping a hand across the air. "What?! No!! I want to spend the day with my best bro!"

"To do that, you kind of have to, you know, do more than mope around talking about your boyfriend."

Bokuto turned and slumped back onto the bed, face first this time, and let out a loud wail into the sheets.  

Kuroo stared. He sighed, dropping his arms, and walked over to the bed, flopping down on his side next to Bokuto. Kuroo stared at the dust particles floating in the sunlight coming through his bedroom window. He felt conflicted; he wanted to apologize and ask what was wrong, but Bo’s feelings weren’t the only ones that were hurt.

Kuroo was saved from responding, because just as abruptly as he'd flopped on the bed, Bokuto sat up and reached over to latch onto Kuroo's shoulders. He ended up leaning over Kuroo, looking down at him intensely.  

Kuroo felt his body start to secrete sweat like a motherfucker. The air thickened.

"Kuroo. You're my best bro."

Kuroo choked down his spit. "I know, bro."

"I don't want you to forget! Promise you won't!"

"I won't." Kuroo was unable to break the contact with Bokuto's eye, and they seemed to be drawing nearer.  

Bokuto pulled back, indignant, and Kuroo felt cool air flow into his space once more. "Brooo, you gotta promise me..."

Kuroo unwillingly smiled up at him, scowling through it, but he was able to breathe once more. "Promise. I promise I won't forget."

"Ok, well, you seemed like you were!" Bokuto crossed his arms looking reproachfully down at him.

Kuroo sputtered. "I.. _I_ didn't forget I was your best bro! I thought _you_ were forgetting!" He jabbed Bokuto particularly hard in the chest.

"WHAT? No!" Bokuto leaned back down again to grab his shoulders, _hard_. "Kuroo!! I could never forget this bond forged through–through–blood, sweat, and tears!" Bokuto shook him to punctuate the words.

Kuroo tried to pry the hands from his shoulders, glaring. "Then what the _hell,_ man, where have you been the past few weeks?"

"I've been with Akaashi!"

"Uuuhuh." Propping his hands behind his head, Kuroo made this eye roll particularly slow and dramatic. "I know."

"Geh?!" Bokuto now smacked his hands to the sides of Kuroo's face, making his eyes water, and squished his cheeks together.  

"Hey!" Kuroo flung his arms out once more trying to get Bokuto to _back the fuck off._

"Just cuz I'm hanging out with 'Kaashi doesn't mean that you're not still important, Kuroo! You _and_ Akaashi are the most important! I just thought that you'd be okay with it!"

That froze Kuroo to the spot, eyes flying to Bokuto's. "What do you mean 'okay with it'? With you and Akaashi? Of course I am, why wouldn't I be??"

Bokuto was already shaking his head, and he retracted his arms. "No, not that. I thought that you'd be okay if we didn't hang out for a while, since you're my best bro and have been since, like forever _."_

Incredulous, Kuroo bit back, "And I thought that you'd at least give me the time of day, 'since you're _my_ best bro and have been since, like _forever_."

"That's exactly it, dude. I thought, I guess...I thought we were solid, you and me. I thought I didn't need to worry about you." Bokuto sat back and looked off to the side, pouting. "Me and 'Kaashi, though, we just started and there's all this communication shit that we're trying to work out, and– and that's new, you know? I thought what you and I had couldn't be broken just cuz we hadn't seen each other recently."

It was one of those moments that Kuroo never saw coming; the kind where it seems like Bokuto is just spewing whatever comes to mind, but it turns out really deep. It was one of those moments that pulled you into rethinking parts of your life.

_God dammit, he's right. I overreacted._

Kuroo puffed out a huge sigh, leaning back into his bed. "Eeeeh, crap. As much as it pains me to say it...you're right, Bo."

Bokuto quickly turned back, eyes wide. “I am? I mean, of course I am! Our bond is unbreakable! Unshakeable! Un...stoppable!”

Kuroo smirked and closed his eyes. “Better stop before you hurt yourself.”

“Indestructible!!”

Kuroo opened his eyes to see Bokuto looking up in triumph, hands lifted in clenched fists to emphasize the point. Kuroo took the opportunity to throw off his balance, and shove him away.

Bokuto didn’t seem phased in the slightest. “Hey, hey, hey! Kuroo!”

“What?” Kuroo ignored the ghost sensation of Bokuto’s body hovering over his.

“Why don’t we all hang out? The three of us!” Bokuto looked like he might explode from the possibility.

Kuroo thought about it for moment. “I don’t want to be an awkward third wheel.”

“You won’t be! Remember when we practiced together at the training camp? That wasn’t awkward.”

“You guys also weren’t together yet, and we had volleyball to focus on.”

Bokuto slumped down next to Kuroo and waved his hands in the air as if he was demonstrating the possibilities. “So, we’ll just have to have something to focus on. We could go to the park! There’re lotsa things there to focus on. Or out to eat! Food deserves our focus, of course. Or we could just stay in and watch a movie!”

Kuroo blinked, peeking over. “You know that those are literally all cliché date things, right? Those are things I’m most likely to be a third wheel for.”

“Then we should do them first to prove that you won’t be! The hardest stuff first!” Bokuto looked determined. Kuroo couldn’t tell him no.

“...Okay. We can give it a try.”

 

* * *

 

This...was a horrible idea.

They should have stayed in and tried the movie, or done the walk in the park or _something_ ; anything would be better than this.

Obviously, Bokuto had no clue that this was a horrible idea and just kept rambling on about some _thing_ that had happened at their school today, that Kuroo _had_ to hear about, and _Akaashi, back me up with this story._

Akaashi had done no such thing, just watched Bokuto as he spoke loud, enthusiastically, and probably exaggeratingly about what had transpired.

Bokuto moved on from that to some funny new meme he’d seen, and Kuroo instantly knew which he was talking about, but it definitely wasn’t “new” seeing as it hit it’s height a couple weeks ago. He let Bokuto explain it to him anyway.

Akaashi seemed to lose interest and looked disinterestedly around the restaurant.

It wasn’t that bad of a place. It wasn’t fancy, but it was apparent that whoever ran the place had pride in it. It was an odd mash of a restaurant; with seafood, italian, and burgers served there– as well as salads and soup specials. They’d decided to come here because they were hungry as _fuck_ , and this place served huge portions. It backfired, though, because they’d ordered their food half an hour ago and still didn’t have it.

Bokuto had had his water filled four times already. Kuroo’s lemonade was on it’s second glass, but Akaashi was still sipping his first glass of water.

When Bokuto finished his explanation of the meme, he stood up dramatically.

“I’ve gotta pee like a firehose!”

Several people looked their way as Bokuto scampered off to the bathroom.

Kuroo snickered into his lemonade and watched Akaashi lean his head into his hand.

After a moment, Kuroo prompted, “So….favorite color?”

Akaashi gave him a flat look. “Excuse me?”

Kuroo smirked propping his chin on his fist. “What’s your favorite color?”

“And you want to know this, why exactly?”

Kuroo shrugged. “If we’re gonna have this forced bonding time, we may as well _try_ to get along. So...favorite color?”

Akaashi let out a barely perceptible sigh. “Gold.”

“Hmm...subtle about your true interests, Akaashi,” Kuroo teased.

Akaashi ignored it, appearing to settle into his fate. “Yours?”

“Red.”

They went on with the questions for a little while.

Kuroo was the one who brought it up.

“So, Bo’s been gone a while.”

“I suspect that he’s not going to come back for a while considering I’m fairly certain that I just saw him duck back from peeking out from behind the corner to the bathroom.”

“Ah, cool. Favourite animal?”

“I like owls.”

Kuroo sighed. “Just another reason why you two are disgustingly perfect for each other.”

Akaashi ignored it. “Yours?”

“Cats.”

“No particular kind?”

“Hm...I like black cats. They’re so misunderstood and just need love.” Kuroo winked. “Like me.”

“Well, I suppose it could be worse. You could like dogs.”

Kuroo gasped. “Never _dare_ to assume that I like dogs.”

Akaashi’s eyebrows rose. “So, you _don’t_ like dogs?”

Kuroo scowled. “Bleh! They smell, they slobber all over you, some of them hump your leg, who wants that?!”

“Hmm.” Akaashi considered it. “I suppose I like calm dogs. I don’t appreciate when they jump on me, or when they bark a lot. If they were quiet and calm, that’d be acceptable, but I understand that you have to train them to be that way, and I don’t see the point in going through all the effort if you’re just going to feel ‘fine’ with the dog being there.”

Kuroo grumbled, “Their fur isn’t even soft.” He took a long drink of his lemonade.

“Bokuto likes dogs.”

“Yeah, well, Bo and I have been friends long enough that we don’t have to agree on everything.”

“Hmm.”

“Well! This has been a good first attempt at friendship. I’m proud of us, and let’s make sure that the two of us are never alone together again!”

Akaashi sighed. “Kuroo-san...if we want to make Bokuto happy, we’ll have to try harder than that.”

“Ah, but! It doesn’t have to be in a day! You and I both know that we’re not going to be friends just like that, so why force it too much?”

 

* * *

  

The three of them continued to hang out together every once in awhile, but Bokuto must have figured that Kuroo and Akaashi didn't enjoy spending a lot of time with one another. As if they could be more obvious about dragging their feet to hang out. So he hung out with them separately, this time making sure that Kuroo didn’t feel left behind. Bokuto made sure to ask repeatedly if he was alright. After their rather intense talk, though, Kuroo didn’t feel as....insecure, he supposes is the right word, about their friendship.

And so, another unexpected change happened in Kuroo’s life: regular hangouts with his best bro and his best bro's boyfriend.

 

* * *

 

Then, of course, there was the day that Kuroo had what he can only assume was a heart attack. Or, perhaps "night" is more accurate.  

It was a weeknight so, naturally,  Kuroo had gone to hang out with Kenma while they did their homework– halfheartedly and with nagging in Kenma's case. Unlike usual, though, Kuroo stayed late into the night as Kenma moved on from his homework to a game.  

About twenty to midnight, Kuroo asked from over Kenma's shoulder, "Soooo~ How are you feeling?"

Kenma didn't look away from the screen.  

"Same as usual, I guess."

Kuroo slid his eyes from the screen to Kenma's face, letting his lips curl upward.  

"Sure~"

Kenma didn't deign to respond to that.  

"You've been stuck at this same part for the last 45 minutes, but I'm sure everything's fine." Kuroo nudged Kenma with his elbow to take whatever sting there may have been out of his words.  

He should have known not to bother. Kenma only grunted.  

"You wanna talk about it?"

Kenma spared a moment to hit Kuroo with his flat stare.  

"If I wanted to talk about it, I would have done it when you asked me how I feeling."

Kuroo laughed. "Ok, I get it. I'm here if you need me, though."

Kenma held his response for a moment, but when it comes, it's soft, floating weightlessly into the silence of the room.  

"I know."

The next while was only filled with the sounds that came from Kenma's game: roars, yells, and the clash of steel on steel. Kuroo doesn't mind. In fact, it felt nice to have this quiet time with his best friend.  

However, when midnight had come and gone on the 16th of October and Kenma made no move to do anything but continue his game, Kuroo decided to take matters into his own hands or he was never gonna get home tonight.  

He started off easy, poking Kenma lightly in the side.  

When that didn't produce any results beyond a slight shift away, Kuroo tugged on the edge of Kenma's shirt gently like he was going to lift it. "Kenmaaaaa."

Kenma sighed. "You're not going to stop or leave until you see it, are you?"

Still tugging, Kuroo mischievously looked down at him, smile unable to be contained. " _Now_ you're getting it."

Kenma reluctantly put his controller down. "What if it's somewhere embarrassing?"

"Kenma!" Kuroo put a hand to his chest, the picture of a angel. "I would never make you do something you're uncomfortable with!"

"You make me play volleyball every day."

"Okay, but you actually like volleyball, so I'm not really _making_ you do it."

"Do not."

"Do, too."

"Do not."

Kuroo paused, smirk taking over his face. Kenma glared, daring him.  

"Do, too."

"Do _not._ "

"Kenmaaaaaa, we're getting off topic. Show me!"

Kenma shoved away Kuroo’s grabby hands, and stood up, walking towards the door.

"Kenma! You can't run away, this is your house!"

Kenma opened the door, turning to face Kuroo. "I'm not stripping in front of you, asshole, so wait outside while I look for it."

Kuroo pouted, but readily stepped outside, not necessarily wanting to see more of Kenma than he needed to anyway; growing up together had already given him more than enough views of Kenma's body than he ever needed.  

Kuroo leaned against the wall and listened to Kenma's soft shuffles coming from in the room. After a curse, and few moments of shuffling there was silence. Kuroo figured Kenma needed some time to process it, no matter what he said on the subject, so he let him be for a few extra minutes.

But when the silence stretched beyond five minutes, Kuroo started to get impatient. "Kenma, c'mon! I wanna see."

The silence continued, Kuroo heard the grandfather clock in the other room chime for a quarter past the hour. Kuroo impatience shifted to anxiety.  

_Was something wrong?_

"Kenma? Is everything ok?" Kuroo knocked softly on the door. When there was still no response, he pushed the door open slowly. "Kenma?"

Kuroo ventured into the room to see Kenma in just his boxers, and Kuroo thanked a random deity that he wasn't naked, before realizing Kenma wasn't even looking at any part of his body. He was staring frozen at his phone.

Kuroo put his hands on his hips, perturbed. "Are you serious? You stopped looking? Did you get a game notification or something?" Without waiting for an answer, Kuroo started circling Kenma, looking for his Mark.  

Kenma continued to stare at his phone, absolutely motionless.

When Kuroo didn't find Kenma's mark on any of his visible skin, Kuroo started snickering, trying to hold it in, and came around to Kenma's front.  

"Holy shit, is it actually on your ass or something?" Kuroo couldn't really restrain in his snickering anymore. As Kuroo's horrible laughter took over the room, Kenma finally, slowly, looked up at him.

The look on Kenma's face shattered all the humor Kuroo found in the situation, and he was sure it would fuel his nightmares for quite some time. Kenma looked at him with absolute horror and disgust.  

Kuroo's blood chilled in it's path, screeching to a halt. Kenma lifted his phone to show Kuroo what was on the screen.  

It was the back of a slim neck, just below a dark hairline. The edge of someone's hand was just visible holding the hair out of the way.  

In the center of the photo was graceful red stained kanji, reading _Kuroo Testurou_.

Kuroo took longer than he probably should have to figure out that the neck his name was printed on was _Kenma's._ The second he figured it out, he let out an odd choked squawking noise, flinching back from the photo as if it had reached out cold hands and tried to grab onto him. The feeling of the cold hands running across his skin didn't fade.  

Kuroo wrenched his face back to Kenma's and found Kenma still giving him that horrible look, but this time, Kuroo was sure it was mirrored on his own face.  

They stared.  

Suddenly, an odd sound bubbled up from Kenma's throat, though his face remained horrified. Soon, Kenma was laughing hysterically and uncontrollably, his eyes wide and unbelieving.  

Kuroo just stood there in shock, certain that his heart has stopped, seeing as his brain had ceased all functions beyond one thought:

_What the FUCK?_

Finally, speech was something he could accomplish once more. "K–Kenma..."

His voice must have been some kind of catalyst for Kenma, because he was then able to speak as well, between laughs. "Oh...oh my god. It's...just so...ridiculous...to think you...and...and _me–_ " Kenma broke into uncontrollable giggles, eyes finally closing as he fell into actual mirth, bending over when he was unable to stay upright.

Kuroo's tone was airy, not quite on the lucid plain yet. "I'm not sure if I should be offended."

As Kenma bent over, breathless with his giggles, his hair fell to the sides, and his Soulmark was just barely visible. Kuroo was struck with the urge to look at it. He shuffled around Kenma and brushed his hair out of the way.

It seemed to be twice as jarring to look at the actual thing than a picture. It was definitely his name, not that there had been any doubt from the picture, but maybe his subconscious thought it had been a joke.

As great as Kenma is...Kuroo can’t help but feel a little cheated, a little disappointed. He loves Kenma, and their friendship, but he had been excited for something new to start whenever he’d gotten around to finding his Soulmate. While Kenma is great, he’s just kinda...there. Kuroo was hoping for someone more...exciting? outgoing? He’s not sure what he was expecting, but it wasn’t _Kenma._

Kuroo wasn’t even aware how much he wanted his Soulmate to be his perfect match until that very moment.

Kenma’s giggles calm down gradually as Kuroo continues to blankly stare at the Kanji that make up his name. He’s forced to break away when Kenma turns around to look at him, humor still flickering on his face.

“Kuroo.” Kenma forces Kuroo to focus, smiling softly. “It’s okay, alright?”

Strangled, Kuroo responds, “Yeah...this is...great.”

“Don’t kill yourself trying to say it, oh my god. It’s fine, Kuroo, _listen_.” Kenma shoves his shoulder, but not unkindly. “I have absolutely no desire to be your Soulmate.”

Relief was the sweetest drug to ever grace Kuroo’s bloodstream, good enough to allow him to respond.

“Ok, rude.”

Kenma shoved him again, a bit harder.

“Don’t pretend like you wanted me for a Soulmate, you were having an aneurysm at the thought alone.”

Kuroo spread his arm wide. “Alright, you got me.”

“The world isn’t what it was fifty or a hundred years ago, we don’t have to be in a relationship just because your name is on my skin.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Kenma’s words continued to calm him, especially because Kenma himself had apparently just had a hysterical fit at the very thought.

“Well, not a _romantic_ or _sexual_ relationship, anyway. I…” Kenma looked away then. “I value your friendship.”

This was a rare thing, for Kenma to open up to Kuroo. They both knew Kenma didn’t have many friends, let alone ones that he let see this side of him.

Kuroo chose not to waste this moment.

“Keeeenmaaaaa!!!” Kuroo threw his arms around Kenma and crushed him to his chest. He rubbed the side of his face against the top of Kenma’s head, purposely messing up his hair. “I value your friendship, too! Be my friend forever~~”

A smothered voice emerged from Kuroo’s chest. “If you don’t let go, I’ll punch you in the balls.”

Kuroo laughed, but let go and smirked. “Wouldn’t _that_ be a start to our sexual exploration as Soulmates?”

“Gross.” Kenma sat back down and resumed playing as if the last, Kuroo checked the time, _half an hour_ didn’t happen.

“I gotta go if I want to get any sleep before I gotta get up in the morning.”

Kenma grunted.

Grabbing his bag, Kuroo stifled another laugh. “I’ll let myself out, then.”

 

* * *

 

 

The next day, there were questions, of course. Some people knew it’d been Kenma’s golden birthday, and others caught glimpses of Kenma’s Mark, but they both fended off the questions, saying they weren’t doing anything about it. People gave up talking about it after a few days when they saw that neither Kenma nor Kuroo cared. Kuroo was just glad that everything stayed the same between him and Kenma.

Kuroo had called Bokuto and told him the morning after it happened, explaining his absolute horror and disappointment when he’d found out. Bokuto was sympathetic, but Kuroo could definitely hear Akaashi laughing at Kuroo’s pain in the background.

Other than that, though, it was mostly forgotten about until Kuroo had his own golden birthday about a month later. The day before, he was almost certain that he was going to get Kenma’s name as well, so he stayed home from school, unable to really hold himself together.

Kuroo, again, realized just how much he wanted his Soulmate to be his perfect match.

When it struck midnight on his birthday, it took him all of ten seconds to find the blurry Mark forming on the back of his shoulder. He watched it swirl in his mirror and flow around before finding a way to situate itself.

He called Kenma, eyes set on the murky form.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

There was silence.

The odd shape on his shoulder didn’t budge even a millimeter.

Kuroo felt like crying.

“So?”

“It’s not you!” He continued to watch the Mark just in case.

“I’m glad. You’re more into this than I am. I’d feel kinda bad if you were stuck with me when I know you’re kinda looking for something else.”

“Kenmaaaaa.”

“Goodnight, Kuro.”

Thankfully, this was the last exciting thing to happen that year, even if it was only half way done. Kuroo was pretty sure he was done with changes in his life for at least six months.

Winter, the holiday's, and the rest of the school year passed uneventfully.

 

And so concluded Kuroo’s second year of high school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it is i
> 
> i am alive
> 
> talk to me on tumblr: fxvixen
> 
> thanks so much for your nice comments, they kept me going!


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